RED BULL SALZBURG reached the semi-final of the Europa League last season and have started this season with an impressive series of wins, including of course an impressive 3-2 away win in the opening group stage game against Red Bull Leipzig.
After picking up 3 points in Germany, the Austrians will be confident that they can double their points tally after facing Celtic tomorrow. This evening Brendan Rodgers spoke about the scale of the challenge that is facing Celtic tomorrow. Privately though Rodgers will be well aware that this is the Europa League and not the financially doped Champions League and as such Celtic should be able to hold their own – on a good day!
“It’ll be a very difficult challenge but one we’re ready to embrace and look forward to,” Brendan said to the club’s website after the squad arrived in Austria this evening.
“Salzburg are a team who are clearly high in confidence. They reached the semi-final last year and will feel they were close to getting to the final.
“They had a very good result in their last game away in Leipzig. They score goals but we also know they concede goals as well, so there are also opportunities in the game and we’ll need to be clinical. When you watch the game against Leipzig, there were a couple of mistakes and they went 2-0 up but then it all changed very quickly in the second-half,” the Celtic manager said.
Brendan was also quick to praise the Salzburg manager Marco Rose for the excellent job he has done at the Austrian side.
“You always have to find a team’s weak points and how you can exploit those. We respect every opponent. Marco knows the club well, he’s come through as a youth coach and is now doing a fantastic job with the first-team.
“They’re clearly a very good side. They’re a team who play with confidence and aggression. It’ll be a difficult game for us, but it’s what we expect in a European game. We know we have to defend well, be concentrated, match the intensity and work-rate. When we have possession we need to be dangerous.
“We’re looking forward to that challenge. The pitch is beautiful, it’s a lovely stadium and it’ll be a really good game. Both teams have started off with victories, so we come here and hope to do well. For us, travelling away we’ve had some good results and performances. We know we need a good one here and we look forward to performing well.”
Celtic will be without Tom Rogic who has a slight injury and did not traveled today. He will be fine for the weekend, the Celtic manager confirmed.
