Celtic loanee Conor Hazard will begin a familiar Champions League qualifying journey this evening with HJK Helsinki.
The 24-year-old is spending 2022 on loan with the Finnish Champions, having joined during the January window earlier this year.
So far, Hazard has featured regularly for his temporary side, making 13 appearances and securing five clean sheets in his first six months there.
With the season in Finland getting underway in March, the Celtic shot-stopper has had time to settle into his new surroundings in Scandanavia.
Currently, Helsinki sits in second place in the Veikkausliiga, three points behind KuPS, who are in top spot, having played one game less.
Despite having league matters to worry about, the focus of Hazard and his current club this week will be on the beginning of their Champions League qualifying campaign.
The 1st round of qualifiers gets underway later this evening, with the Finnish side taking on Latvian opposition, RFS, in a two-legged affair.
Should they advance, they will have the tricky task of facing last season’s Czech champions, FC Viktoria Plzeň.
Of course, there is a long way to go before they can think about Champions League football, and the last time Helsinki were involved in the group stages was back in 1998/99.
In recent years, they have had more luck in other UEFA competitions, qualifying for the Europa League group stages in 2014 and were also part of the first teams to be involved in the Europe Conference League last season.
I am sure they will be keen to qualify once again this campaign but face the tough test of making it through four rounds of fixtures.
Hazard hasn’t featured for Celtic during these early-round qualifiers. However, the goalkeeper will have been part of squads pushing for a place in the Champions League.
Should Helsinki achieve the unlikely feat and manage to make it to the top table of European Football, there could be a match-up between the Northern Ireland internationalist and his parent side this coming season.
In other news, Expect Ange to repeat Celtic January trick if Vinicius Souza talks collapse.
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