Celtic this evening complete their two match leg of their Scottish pre-season matches when they make the very short journey to Hampden to take on Queen’s Park at Lesser Hampden, now know as City Stadium.
Brendan Rodgers took a large squad of first team and Celtic Academy stars down the M77 on Friday evening and essentially played a different team in each half, to get early minutes into as many legs as possible. The game against Ayr United, managed by former Celtic captain Scott Brown, finished in a 1-1 draw with both goals coming from first half penalties and Kyogo Furuhashi finding the back of the net for the Scottish Champions.
Wednesday evening (10 July) will see some additional first team players return after their summer break, with some players coming back a little later than others due to their international commitments over the summer. Brendan Rodgers confirmed post match on Friday evening that both Liam Scales (Ireland) and Matt O’Riley (Denmark) were already back at the club’s training centre at Lennoxtown and would be included in the squad taking on Queen’s Park on Wednesday evening.
Both Japan international stars Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda will be back at Lennoxtown this week but are unlikely to feature against Queen’s Park, while Honduran winger Luis Palma has also returned after initially stating in a interview to local media in Honduras that he would not travel back to Scotland for pre-season but will instead meet up with the squad in the United States.
That’s likely to be the situation for Alistair Johnston, still involved in Copa America – after Canada lost 2-0 to Argentina in the semi-final last night. Canada will now play-off for third place in the competition. Best of luck to AJ in that one. It’s unclear whether Cameron Carter-Vickers, was also at Copa America with the United States will have returned home to Scotland or will join up with the Celtic squad in the States next week. CCV isn’t seen in the Lennoxtown training video update released by the club, so certainly won’t be playing this evening.
Thousands of Celtic supporters from across North America will make their way to the three matches in States this month and GO Sport Travel will be providing Manchester City, Chelsea and Celtic supporters with plenty of package opportunities to follow the three top sides on their travels.
Like Copa America participants CCV and Alistair Johnston, the four Celts at Euro 2024 with Steve Clarke’s Scotland – the Celtic captain, Callum McGregor, James Forrest, Anthony Ralston and Greg Taylor won’t be involved against Queen’s Park but are expected to train at Lennoxtown later this week.
Celtic had not faced Ayr United since 1999 and tomorrow’s against Queen’s Park will be the first meeting between the sides since 2009. The game kicks off at 7.45pm and will be shown live on Celtic TV to subscribers, who will also be able to watch the three tour matches in the United States against DC United, Manchester City and Chelsea as Brendan Rodgers gets his side ready for the beginning of the Scottish Premiership campaign on Sunday 4 August against Kilmarnock at Celtic Park.
Please note that there will be no Celtic supporters at the match at the City Stadium which has a capacity of just 900 and will be home support only, Celtic confirmed this when the fixture was first announced stating:
“Please note, the City Stadium has a capacity of around 900. As a result, there will be no public sale available to Celtic supporters for this game.”
Please note that all 900 tickets have been sold.
In terms of new signings, Brendan Rodgers indicated that he was hopeful of bringing in some new arrivals ahead of boarding the plane for club’s latest American tour. Both loan signing from last season Paulo Bernardo (Benfica) and Adam Idah (Norwich City) are expected to return on permanent deals and the need to find a replacement for veteran goalkeeper Joe Hart, who retired at the end of last season, rumbles on with the latest front-runner being Danish keeper Peter Vindhal Jensen with an £8m deal with Sparta Prague being the mentioned in the newspapers this week.
🤩 The Celts are back in action today for matchday two of pre-season! @CelticTV has exclusive access to ALL the pre-season games this summer – including live video in the UK & Ireland! 🍀
Find out more and how to subscribe ⤵️#TheBhoysOfSummer | #CelticFC🍀
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 10, 2024
