Jablonec don’t look to be in a great place heading into Thursday night’s UEFA Europa League third qualifying round second-leg challenge at Celtic Park.
The Czech side already has a monumental task on their hands. 4-2 down from the first-leg, Jablonec have to come to Parkhead and secure a three-goal success. To put it bluntly, it’s mission impossible for them even if they were in a good way.
However, the Czechs suffered an embarrassing incident in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Bohemians. Jablonec owner Miroslav Pelta went into the official’s dressing room at half-time to apologise for the over-the-top behaviour of manager Petr Rada in the first-half [Daily Record].
Bohemians made an official complaint about the matter. This led to Jablonec having to explain what happened and why the owner went in to see the officials. As quoted by the Daily Record, a Jablonec spokesman said the following:
“The owner of the club went to the referees to apologise for the overly irritated behaviour of coach Petr Rada.”
Nothing rosy in the Jablonec garden ahead of Celtic Park trip
It’s not as if they went into the first-leg in good spirits either. Manager Rada was left absolutely fuming after a 3-0 loss to Mlada Boleslav heading into the first-leg against Celtic [Daily Record].
After conceding another four goals against the Hoops and then the incident on Sunday, Jablonec aren’t in a good place. They sit in seventh place after only three games, but their confidence doesn’t appear to be at its highest level.
Contrastingly, Celtic are suddenly absolutely flying. They used Jablonec as a springboard to put in the perfect performance against Dundee at Parkhead yesterday. A 6-0 success has the morale levels sky-high at Celtic Park.
It’s exactly what our Czech foes didn’t need heading into Thursday night. Even they’ll be admitting that any prospect of overturning last week’s deficit is nothing more than a pipe dream.
Of course, just getting the job done on Thursday night would irk the Celtic fans and likely Ange Postecoglou. He’ll have his eyes on another convincing win and performance to continue the lifting of the club’s spirits.
And, when you look at the situation heading into the game, Jablonec are in absolutely no position to put up any sort of fight.
In other news, James McFadden refutes suggestion that Odsonne Edouard isn’t committed to Celtic
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