Manager Brendan Rodgers has named his Celtic team vs Lazio for tonight’s UEFA Champions League encounter in Rome.
The full match squad is as follows:
Starting XI – Hart, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, McGregor, O’Riley, Bernardo, Forrest, Yang, Kyogo.
Substitutes – Bain, Morrison, Lagerbielke, Phillips, Turnbull, Holm, Oh, Ralston, Welsh, Frame, Johnston.
Celtic need a victory to keep hopes of European football after Christmas alive. It’s a tall order but as shown by the youth team earlier today, wins in Italy are possible.
Rodgers has made three changes to the team that drew with Motherwell on Saturday with Alistair Johnston, Paulo Bernardo and James Forrest all coming into the team.
Hyunjun Yang has retained his place in the side with Luis Palma suspended, while both Daizen Maeda and Liel Abada are injured.
Hyeongyu Oh is on the bench if needed alongside David Turnbull and Mikey Johnston. Meanwhile, 17-year-old left-back Mitchel Frame has been included in a match squad for the first time tonight, after recently signing a new contract and finding himself involved in training at Lennoxtown.
Broadcast details
Tonight’s match is being shown live on TNT Sports 1 in the UK & Ireland.
Celtic TV will not be showing live video but will provide audio commentary for global subscribers to the club service.
Dozens of channels across the world are carrying the encounter including Paramount+ in the United States, Sky Sport in Italy and Movistar in Spain. A full list of global broadcasters can be found via LiveSoccerTV.
BBC Radio Scotland will also be providing live audio commentary across their platforms.
Instant verdict on Celtic team vs Lazio
There aren’t too many surprises in tonight’s team given the injury and suspension situation. It’s about as strong a team as Rodgers could have fielded. It’s very close to the starting eleven we predicted earlier today.
Bernardo has often been preferred as a midfield choice in Europe, while Rodgers is clearly banking on the experience and guild of Forrest over the unfancied Johnston. Those were the only two big decisions the manager had to make with the rest of the eleven almost picking itself.
It’s not the best team Celtic have ever fielded in Europe but it’ll have to do tonight. We’re all hoping for a surprise result, just like the famous win secured in 2019.
In other news, Lazio star Pedro makes it clear what he thinks of Celtic.
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