Tonight is a golden opportunity for Celtic to collect three points on the road in the Champions League and reach the play-off round, but an injury hit Dinamo Zagreb will be no pushovers…
Later this evening we will take on Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia as we look to secure our qualification for the play-off stages of the UEFA Champions League.
Celtic’s away record in this competition is woeful, we haven’t won an away fixture at this stage since when we beat Anderlecht 3-0 in Brussels back in 2017, so any optimism is tempered by a harsh dose of realism and that dreadful feeling in our stomachs that is all too familiar on many a Champions League away day, whether we’ve travelled or watching back home on television.
Tonight is a golden opportunity to lay those ghosts to rest as we take on a Dinamo Zagreb side who are out of form and missing numerous key players. That doesn’t mean Celtic should be taking anything for granted as the Croatian Champions will still be a tough nut to crack as they are at home and like ourselves are still in with a decent chance of qualification for the play-off rounds.
Brendan Rodgers will make sure that the players ignore any noise over the opposition, and concentrate on ourselves, and I’m sure Brendan will ensure the players go onto the pitch with correct mindset. He has a full strength squad to choose from and that will involve 15 or 16 players all playing a part.
If we play to the standard we know we are capable of we can get a result, of that I have no doubt. If we defeat like we did in Bergamo and attack like we did against RB Leipzig then it should be a long overdue night to remember for the Celtic support on an away day in the Champions League.
It won’t be easy, we will of course respect the opposition but focus will be on ourselves playing well and getting a positive result. Let’s hope we are all smiling later this evening.
Predicted Celtic Team
Schmeichel; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Trusty, Taylor; McGregor (c), Hatate, Bernardo; Kuhn, Kyogo and Maeda.
Subs: Sinisalo, Bain; Scales, Welsh, Valle, Idah, Yang, McCowan, Engels Forrest and Ralston
Predicted Score
We got Aberdeen 0-1 Celtic and Celtic 3-0 Hibs spot on. This evening we’re going for Dinamo Zagreb 1 -2 Celtic .
COYBIG
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
