Dan Petrescu to let the old guard face Celtic for Cluj tonight

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Dan Petrescu has stated that multiple players of his tonight will be over their mid-30s.

Celtic will take to Romania tonight looking to put their stamp on this Champions League qualifier early doors. Cluj offer a unique threat with how good and respected they are, but not much is known about their side heading into the match.

The fact this is a first-ever for both sides only adds to the intrigue. But, for Celtic, they know where they’re strong. The Hoops are quick in moving the ball from defence into attack, and will use young legs such as Mikey Johnston, Callum McGregor, and Ryan Christie to get their way tonight.

And Petrescu has confirmed at his presser via the BBC that he will start several players in their mid-30s or over, despite Celtic’s pace in the midfield.

“We have players of 34, 35, 36 years old who will start tomorrow and it is not easy for them to play three games in a week.

“Our spirit is good. They have experience, they know how to play and hopefully they can keep pace with the young players of Celtic.”

Something to keep an eye on? Or is this just mind-games

There’s no denying Celtic’s pace in the final third can be a problem for Cluj’s veterans. Regardless of how good they may be, matching Celtic’s speed going forward whilst at the wrong end of 30 could be tough for them.

But Cluj manager Petrescu will know exactly what he’s doing. He’ll know the likes of Mario Camora, Andrei Muresan, and Ovidiu Hoban can handle themselves in Europe. However, with Hoban at 36 in particular, and having played his side’s last two games over the week, he could perhaps be got at.

It really will be down to us to see how much energy and pace we can put into the game tonight. You would hope, with the young talent we have in the attacking third, that we could profit from some of Cluj’s more senior players.

This will be the biggest game many at Cluj will have ever played. They’ve been starved of Champions League football for the last seven years. They’re not European veterans, and therefore they clearly have their weaknesses.

It remains to be seen if having too many senior players and not enough young legs is one of them. But if it is, this is one source of optimism we can have for this evening.

We all expect Cluj to be efficient, but this feels like a match where the onus is on us to take the game to them. Let’s see if our attacking players can prove too quick for the elder statesmen of our rivals.