Celtic put in the final preparations at Celtic Park today before jumping on a plane and heading to the Netherlands for their Champions League opener with Feyenoord. The Hoops are back in the big time again after making it back for the first time in a few years last season. Rotterdam is the destination for Matchday One in the Group E section and they will face off against Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid and Lazio this year.
🔜 ✈ Next stop, Rotterdam! 🟢⚪#FeyenoordCeltic | #UCL | #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/zE3Tyuvwme
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) September 18, 2023
🏴 GLA 🛫
🇳🇱 RTM 🛬The Celts are here! 🟢⚪#FeyenoordCeltic | #UCL | #COYBIG🍀 pic.twitter.com/Wq5Fns4yj8
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) September 18, 2023
Arne Slot’s men will be no pushovers, despite the fact that they are not in the same bracket as Real Madrid, Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain. Brendan Rodgers will be hoping he’s learned to be more protective of his backline in Europe’s top club competition after some pretty nasty hidings in his last tenure.
He’s scaled European football with English Premier League team Leicester City during his time away, and hopefully that stands him in good stead for this year’s adventure throughout our ChampionsLeague experience. A visit to the De Kuip stadium is probably the best start we could have got when the fixtures came out and it gives us hope of getting momentum in the group.
Rodgers and his assistant, John Kennedy, were busy putting the squad through their paces earlier in the day before heading out to Holland and the city of Rotterdam. Some of the players won’t have sampled this level of competition before and will have a wonderful chance to showcase their talents if they are included in the line-up tomorrow night.
It promises to be a cracker.
Paul Gillespie
