The international action gets underway on Thursday and there’s plenty of Celtic interest.
Okay, it may not match the joy of actually seeing Brendan Rodgers’ men in action. But it’s the best we’re going to have until we return at Tynecastle in 11 days’ time.
As Celtic outlined in a Twitter post on Tuesday, we have 13 first-team stars away on international duty during this break.
They are: Callum McGregor, Greg Taylor (both Scotland), Liam Scales, Mikey Johnston (both Republic of Ireland), Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate (both Japan), Gustaf Lagebielke (Sweden), Cameron Carter-Vickers (USA), Alistair Johnston (Canada), Luis Palma (Honduras), Hyeongyu Oh (South Korea), Odin Thiago Holm (Norway under-21s) and Paulo Bernardo (Portugal under-21s).
Here are three games that may be particularly interesting to you from a Hoops point-of-view.
If you’re anything like me, you may still have clear visions of Callum McGregor galloping away from Spanish players in the closing stages of a famous Scotland win.
It was a huge night at Hampden Park back in March. Now, Scotland face the return fixture in the heat of Seville. They know that qualification for Euro 2024 will be assured if they avoid defeat.
Being Scottish, I’m obviously a bit biased with this one. But who doesn’t want to see McGregor bossing it against some of Europe’s best again? It’s a 7:45pm kick-off on Thursday evening.
24 hours later, Liam Scales could well make his first senior appearance for the Republic of Ireland as they host Greece in Dublin.
Ireland won’t be qualifying for the Euros but it’s still a big chance for them to get a result against an improving Greek side. Scales could start given his recent form and some Irish defensive injuries.
If he does, he could line up directly against his former Celtic team-mate Giorgos Giakoumakis. The pair even both scored in the same Hoops match once. It would be a really interesting battle to watch, while Mikey Johnston could also feature. That’s Friday at 7:45pm.
Earlier on Friday, there’s a fixture between Japan and Canada in Niigata. The match may only be a friendly, but there will be plenty of bragging rights on offer at Lennoxtown.
Alistair Johnston is certain to play at right-back for the visitors while Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate could feature for the hosts.
Again, it would be very interesting to see them going up against each other. That one’s at 11:35am (Scottish time) on Friday.
In other news, former Celtic star explains what makes Cameron Carter-Vickers so good
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