Brendan Rodgers has confirmed his Celtic XI for tonight’s match at the Mestalla against Valencia.
Celtic are looking to eat into the Spaniards’ 2-0 aggregate lead after their last-32 first leg clash at Parkhead last Thursday.
And Rodgers has decided to spring a huge surprise by dropping Scott Sinclair for Jozo Simunovic. Whether this means Celtic will play three at the back with Hayes in an advanced position remains to be seen. Here’s the full team below:
No surprises as Rodgers selects Scott Bain for his 10th consecutive match in between the sticks. He’ll need to have a good performance tonight, after failing to keep out the La Liga outfit last week.
Jeremy Toljan and Jonny Hayes unsurprisingly take up spots as expected. The pair have been favourites to start heading into the match and will need to be steady at the back and useful going forward.
It looks as though Hayes could be playing further forward, however, unless Callum McGregor is occupying the left-mid role. But that would potentially leave Celtic with five at the back unless Ajer pushed forward alongside Scott Brown.
Dedryck Boyata’s partner for tonight you would’ve imagined was going to be between Ajer and Simunovic. In a surprising twist, both are starting. It will be interesting where Ajer plays in this line-up.
The vital performers
Brown and McGregor were givens tonight, as was James Forrest. There’s a massive onus on all three of them in their respective roles. The latter two, however, need to link up effectively and pick the right passes. If anyone in this trio isn’t on their game, we’ll be bowing out.
Ryan Christie has struggled to seriously effect games recently. He was totally missing in the first leg at Parkhead. Therefore, he can seriously count himself fortunate to be making his 34th appearance of the season for Celtic tonight. He simply needs to turn up in behind the striker.
The main question mark would’ve been up top. Just who was going to get the nod?
The introduction of Odsonne Edouard to the starting line-up would’ve perhaps made some sense, but Rodgers has gone for Oliver Burke. The Scotland international has been in fine form for Celtic since January and will be looking to add to his three Celtic goals so far.
Edouard is a strong candidate to come on from the bench. His strength could be invaluable later on against tired defenders.
Tonight is effectively a free hit though. The starting XI is a fair bit off what we all expected, and we can only see what Rodgers is trying with this when the game kicks off.
Here’s hoping they do us some European justice tonight.
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