Celtic don’t yet know if the upcoming Champions League qualifier against KR Reykjavik will take place at Celtic Park, Neil Lennon told BBC Scotland this afternoon (Radio Scotland pre-match, 16:19).
This morning at UEFA headquarters, Celtic were drawn at home to the 2019 Icelandic champions, with the usual two-legged format dropped for the first three qualifying rounds due to scheduling problems.
However, it’s unknown whether Reykjavik will have permission to fly to Glasgow and take part.
If travel restrictions are in place, the match could be played at a neutral venue.
When asked by reporter Chick Young if there’s a potential problem with the fixture, Lennon told BBC Radio Scotland (16:19): “We don’t know. I don’t think the stadium has been decided yet, as far as I’m aware.
“Iceland have closed down their football for a couple of weeks. So we’re in the dark a little bit. We’ll probably know more over the next day or so.
“It’s a good draw, hopefully we can have the home tie we want. If we have to go to a neutral venue then we have to adapt to that accordingly.”
Last week, UEFA announced the four countries that could act as hubs for qualifiers in both the Champions League and Europa League over the coming month.
A statement from the tournament organiser said: “In order to comply with travel restrictions and quarantine requirements issued by authorities, some matches may need to be moved to neutral countries/stadia and the detailed scenarios were presented.
“In this respect, UEFA thanks four associations for their cooperation (Poland, Hungary, Greece and Cyprus), which means that it has been able to provide neutral venue hubs, with these countries making some of their stadiums available on the scheduled match dates and offering a travelling corridor to the teams to come and play the match without restrictions.”
The match against Reykjavik is currently due to take place on the 18th or 19th August, so there is not much time for decisions to be made on the logistics of the tie.
Thankfully, per Lennon’s update, the club should know much more over the next couple of days.
Fingers crossed that Celtic Park gets the nod.
In other news, Celtic transfer target James McCarthy is reported to have opened contract talks with Crystal Palace.
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