Nomme Kalju manager Roman Kozuhhovski has made an interesting reveal ahead of his side’s clash with Celtic on Wednesday.
Celtic are preparing to welcome Nomme Kalju to Parkhead on Wednesday night. The game will signal the first-leg of the second qualifying round of the Champions League. A strong victory at Celtic Park will be on the agenda for Hoops boss Neil Lennon, as Celtic will want to take a dominant lead over to Estonia next week.
But if they are to do so, they won’t be facing a weary Kalju side after their exploits on Friday night. Their 1-1 home draw against Paide occurred with the majority of their first-team stars missing the contest.
Speaking in the Scotsman, Kozuhhovski stated there was no chance he was playing his full team on Friday night either.
“I changed most of the team because they needed freshened up after our game in Macedonia against Shkendija. We are in a situation where we have our league season in the middle of Champions League matches and that’s very hard. There was no way I would play the same team here than against Celtic.
“We should have won of course, but I can forgive them because the whole squad is fatigued. We have a recovery session and then we will fly to Scotland on Monday.
“A plus point was giving our new signing Max Mata his debut. He is a young and ambitious footballer who adds a variation to our attack.”
Roman Kozuhhovski making sure Kalju stars are up for it
It’s fair to say that Kalju were happy to drop the points in order to be fresh for Parkhead. One glance at the league table will tell you why. The Estonians are in fourth place, nine points off the top having played a game more.
It’s likely we won’t be seeing Kalju in these qualifiers next season. But even so, it’s clear they’re leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit of European history.
Celtic represent the biggest tie in Nomme Kalju’s short European record. It’s hardly a surprise to see them make sure they’re as fit and firing for it as they possibly can be.
One interesting note to take away from Kozuhhovski’s quotes there is that he also feels his whole squad is fatigued. Whether that shows at Celtic Park or not should be immaterial to our own preparation. But it’s clear there is a tiredness creeping in if their league form is anything to go by.
Celtic chose not to schedule a friendly game this weekend. We spoke yesterday about whether that was a mistake or not. But given the fact that Kalju have rested so many players, it may actually have ended up a positive that we didn’t.
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