ODSONNE EDOUARD is another young player who could be asked to take a greater share of the responsibility for getting Celtic past Norwegian Champions Rosenborg in the second qualifying round first leg, on Wednesday evening at a packed Celtic Park.
Brendan Rodgers will be putting his faith in Kristoffer Ajer (see HERE) and Jack Hendry (see HERE) and of course Kieran Tierney is still a young boy too.
And at the top end of the park, Leigh Griffiths is out and Moussa Dembele is a doubt after feeling a tightness in the back of his leg last midweek. That could mean that Edouard leads the line himself against what will be a defensively minded Norwegian side. Remember Rosenborg left Glasgow this time last year with a scoreless draw and will be aiming to frustrate the Celtic attackers again this time around.
Odsonne though is excited at the prospect of taking on the Norwegians.
“The Champions League is very important to the club and it’s one of the team’s main objectives.
“We’ll prepare well in advance for Rosenborg because every match is different, but, hopefully, we can get the goals over two legs to qualify.
“It’s important to myself and the club to get to the group stage.”
French Eddie, as the supporters affectionately call him, has also been speaking about his hopes for the season ahead and he is full of confidence and ambition. His early season partnership with Moussa Dembele looks like being hugely successful and the supporters are excited about these two each bagging loads of goals this term.
“My main objective for the season is to win the three trophies again, just like we did last time.
“I’m not thinking about anything else right now. The coach has already set us a style and a strategy – and we respect those plans.
“For me, it’s about scoring goals to help the team and I’m enjoying my football at Celtic.
“I have a great relationship with Moussa. We understand each other very well on and off the pitch. That friendship can be important for the team.
“I’m still a young player and, hopefully, I will improve a lot this season. But now that I’m in the team, I want to keep my place.
“I’ve prepared well physically for this campaign. I know how important that is to perform well individually and as a team.
“I worked during the holidays to have a good preparation.”
