This morning, Celtic learned how their Champions League group stage campaign will shape out after UEFA confirmed the forthcoming fixtures for all eight groups.
Celtic were drawn in Group F alongside the competition holders Real Madrid, as well as Bundesliga runners-up RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk for the Hoops’ first Champions League group stage campaign since the 2017-18 season.
Outlined below is how Celtic’s Champions League Group Stage fixtures fit into the club’s Scottish Premiership games in the coming weeks and months, with a potential Premier Sports Cup quarter final in the mix should Ange Postecoglou’s side overcome Ross County next Wednesday.
Celtic’s Champions League return at home to Real Madrid on the 6th of September comes hot off the heels of the first Glasgow derby of the season on the 3rd of September, and precedes the visit of Livingston to Paradise on the 10th, a game in which the Hoops dropped points in last year as the Lions held out for a 0-0 draw.
Following the Livingston game, Celtic travel to Warsaw to face Shakhtar Donetsk on the 14th of September before travelling to Paisley to face St Mirren on the 17th, another fixture in which points were dropped last season as the Buddies frustrated an injury-ravaged Celtic in the midweek after the League Cup Final.
After the international break – in which Scotland will face Ireland at Hampden and fixtures against Ukraine both home and away – the champions host Motherwell on the 1st of October, before a return to Germany to face RB Leipzig on the 5th of October, with a further away trip to McDiarmid Park due on the 8th.
The return leg against Leipzig on the 11th follows the St Johnstone game, as part of a home double header as the champions host Hibernian in Paradise on the 15th. Should the champions progress past Ross County in Dingwall in the forthcoming 4th Round of the Premier Sports Cup, their quarter-final fixture will take place the forthcoming midweek between the 18th-20th.
Perhaps the standout week in the fixture list, visits to Tynecastle on the 22nd of October and the Tony Macaroni on the 29th sandwich the final home game of the group against Shakhtar on the 25th, in what will surely be one of the biggest weeks of the season for Postecoglou’s side.
The Champions League group stage concludes for Celtic in the midweek following the Livingston game when they face a glamour trip to the Santiago Bernabeu on November 2nd, with a game in Paradise against Dundee United on Guy Fawkes a few days later.
Celtic will hope that the Bernabeu trip doesn’t mark the end of their adventures on the continent for the season, with a minimum 3rd place finish in the group guaranteeing European football after Christmas, either in the Champions League or Europa League knockout stages.
Regardless, it’s an incredibly exciting time to follow the club with a host of massive fixtures to come in the months before the World Cup.
In other news: Shakhtar Donetsk boss discusses possibility of signing ex-Celtic man ahead of UCL match up
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