Rennes stars Eduardo Camavinga and Raphinha could miss the trip to Celtic Park with injury knocks.
Camavinga didn’t play in Saturday’s loss to Dijon, whilst Raphinha had to come off struggling. Should both miss out on Thursday night, it would be a boost to Celtic’s chances.
Of course, the likes of M’Baye Niang and Romain Castillo are both still available as attacking options for the Ligue 1 side.
However, L’Equipe’s Johan Rigaud, who’s been covering Rennes this season, has told the Herald that there’s a good chance neither of the two injury doubts will feature in Glasgow.
“Rennes have some players out injured, like Jakob Johansson. I don’t think Edouard Camavinga, their talented 17-year-old midfielder, will be involved because he got an injury playing with the French Under-21 team.
“Raphina, the Brazilian, scored in the defeat to Dijon at the weekend and then came off with a problem so I don’t know if he will be in Glasgow either.
“Rennes will try to win the game against Celtic of course, but they can’t qualify now and the most important match of the week for them now will be on Sunday against Saint-Etienne in the league.”
Makes no sense for Rennes to risk anything on Thursday
You would expect Rennes to go for it at Parkhead with nothing to lose. They could easily be more expansive than they were in their home stadium back in September.
But that doesn’t mean any big risks should be taken. They currently sit a dismal 12th in Ligue 1. Their priority will surely be to get themselves up into the top 10 as soon as possible. Considering they have a tough game against Saint-Etienne at the weekend, it would be a surprise if they went too gung-ho.
Raphinha is one of Rennes’ top scorers with four goals so far this season (Transfermarkt), whilst Camavinga has played in every game for Rennes in Ligue 1 outside of the Dijon defeat (Transfermarkt).
Rennes will still be able to play talented prospects such as James Lea Siliki or Benjamin Bourigeaud in the midfield in Camavinga’s place. They still have plenty of decent players rippling through their squad.
That’s probably why Neil Lennon would be keen to dismiss any talk that his hands Celtic an advantage. We can’t afford to have that kind of arrogance.
It’s difficult not to take some comfort from the fact Rennes could leave out two of their best forward-thinking players. However, Celtic must be in the right frame of mind for this one, or risk a nasty surprise.
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