Sarajevo vs Celtic won’t take place at their home stadium; match to be played at NK Celik’s ground

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Celtic’s Europa League playoff round match against Sarajevo will not take place at the Bosnian club’s home stadium, UEFA’s website shows.

Like their recent fixture against Budocnost Podgorica the game will actually, amusingly, go ahead at the home of NK Celik – the Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica.

As reported by Radio Sarajevo, the Asim Ferhatović Hase stadium doesn’t meet UEFA’s standards for this stage of the competition, meaning our opponents will be forced to travel 43 miles down the road and play on unfamiliar terrain.

This ground is actually one of two used by the Bosnia & Herzegovina national team so the grass surface should be of decent quality and the facilities in good shape for the visit of Neil Lennon’s Bhoys.

We, of course, played Sarajevo in Champions League qualifying last year but that match did go ahead on their home turf as it took place in the first qualifying round, meaning UEFA didn’t intervene.

While we have been drawn away from home and will have to travel for the fixture, it is something of a bonus the match is being played somewhere else.

That, plus the lack of passionate home support, will hopefully be to our advantage.

Celtic won 3-1 in Bosnia last summer thanks to goals from Mikey Johnston, Odsonne Edouard and Scott Sinclair.

With the talent in place, the squad looking sharp and mostly injury free, we should have too much for them again this time and book our place in the group stages of the competition.

No excuses Bhoys.

In other news, Chris Sutton has called into question Neil Lennon’s tactics and team selections.