FC Midtjylland’s Kevin Mbabu reckons Celtic’s Arne Engels has the potential to join a ‘big team’ within the next few years…
Mbabu previously played with the Hoops midfielder at FC Augsburg in the German Bundesliga, and Engels has recently impressed after being brought back into the Celtic lineup by interim boss Martin O’Neill.
However, Mbabu is hoping the Belgian has an off night in tonight’s Europa League encounter. “He’s a great player with a huge potential that I always praise since I’ve seen him in Augsburg,” he said via BBC Sport Scotland. “He has an excellent right foot.
“He’s a complete player, and hopefully, he doesn’t perform as I want him to be usually. But he’s really a player that we can see in a big team in the next few years.
“It will be the first time [I’ve played against him]. And of course, I will also send him a message later, hoping that he will be ready for the game tomorrow. And hoping also that he will not be on my side, because I will kick him!”
🗣️ “If Arne Engels is on my side of the pitch, I will kick him!” 😂
Former Rangers player Kevin Mbabu is looking forward to facing former Augsburg teammate Arne Engels.
Midtjylland host Celtic on Thursday in the Europa League.#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/WeCi2cWGpb
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) November 5, 2025
In their previous Europa League outing, Celtic secured a 2–1 victory over Austrian champions Sturm Graz, with goals coming from Liam Scales and Benjamin Nygren. Celtic have collected four points from a possible nine, whereas Midtjylland remain unbeaten with a perfect record at the top of the league stage.
Now, interim Celtic boss O’Neill is looking forward to his first European fixture managing the Hoops since 2004.
“Yeah, I’m obviously looking forward to the game,” the 73 year-old said. “I didn’t realise that, well, I didn’t really look at the fixture list at all, but I hadn’t realised that there was a European game so quickly. And yeah, I am just looking forward to it.”
“This young man [Kasper Schmeichel] has been telling me the correct pronunciations here and things like this here, so yeah, genuinely looking forward to it.”
Conor Spence
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