Neil Lennon’s Celtic head into this Thursday’s UEFA Europa League clash against Rennes in fantastic form.
The Hoops have lost just one match so far this season and, although it was a big one, there are signs of optimism as we prepare to kick off our UEFA Europa League campaign.
Thanks to stars such as Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie we’ve managed to score an impressive 42 goals already this season, conceding just 12 in return.
Rennes meanwhile seem to have hit the buffers after an impressive start of their own to 2019/20.
League wins against Montpellier, Strasbourg and notably Paris Saint-Germain had sent the French side on a positive path in Ligue 1.
However, it’s form that has dried up.
Prior to the international break they were beaten 2-1 at home by Nice.
This weekend they failed to get back to winning ways with a toothless 0-0 display away to Brest, who had been beaten 3-0 by Nimes in the match prior.
It’s not the ideal preparation for hosting the Hoops this week.
Niang also a major doubt
Another piece of good news for Celtic is that Rennes’ star forward Mbaye Niang could also be forced out of the encounter, according to The Daily Record.
He missed that 0-0 draw yesterday and will now be assessed ahead of Celtic’s trip to France.
As quoted by the paper, Rennes boss Julien Stephan explained: “Mbaye got a blow to his knee on training this week and that was enough to keep him out of the game.
“As for Celtic, it’s just a case of monitoring him on a day-to-day basis to see if he has a chance of being fit for the match this week.”
Niang, who is rated as worth £10.8m by Transfermarkt, is seen as one of the club’s big players.
Signing permanently from Torino in the summer after an impressive loan spell last season, he’d already scored twice this season prior to his injury. Last term he managed to net 14 goals and assist seven times.
His absence would definitely be good news for Celtic.
Still a tough test
None of this is to say that Celtic are going to have an easy time of it in Rennes on Thursday. Far from it. It’s going to be exceptionally difficult for Lennon’s side to pick up a win.
Rennes are a solid side in one of the continent’s top five leagues. Having won the French cup last season at the expense of Paris Saint-Germain in the final, who they also beat last month, it’s clear they have the kind of quality to punish the Scottish champions.
A draw would also represent a positive result though and if we can manage that it would set us up very nicely for the rest of the group stage.
Fingers crossed we can transfer our domestic form into European competition.
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