Champions League week is back and Celtic are front and centre in the competition tonight as they take on RB Leipzig at the halfway point of the league phase.
The Bhoys are looking to further their hopes of progression with a statement result against Marco Rose’s men, who travel to Glasgow without a point in their opening three games after losing out to Liverpool, Juventus and Atletico Madrid.
At the time of writing, Celtic sit 20th in the Champions League, above tonight’s opponents, Bayern Munich and AC Milan among others. Obviously, you’d expect that picture to change by the time this round of fixtures comes to and end, but hopefully that can be with the Bhoys moving up even further.
Brendan Rodgers knows his side will need to be at their best against Leipzig, with the Hoops’ draw away to Atalanta last time out providing a blueprint for results against high-calibre opposition.
On a slightly different note, one man who has been in and around the Scotland set-up will look to seek advice from the Celtic dressing room ahead of participating in his own glamour Champions League tie.
Max Johnston seeks advice from Celtic contacts
Ahead of Sturm Graz’s trip to face Borussia Dortmund tonight, full-back Max Johnston has indicate he will reach out to some of his friends at Celtic ahead of their fixture at Signal Iduna Park.
He stated [Daily Record]: “I’ll maybe give some of them (the Celtic team) texts in a little while and find out a wee bit more about them.
“We do our analysis on each of their players and stuff. So we’ve done that to date. I was matched up against the boy Jamie Bynoe-Gittens. He’s a 20 years old winger. He’s a good player.
“He’s sharp. He’s obviously a very sharp player. Great feet in tight areas and stuff. So I’ve got to make sure we’re switched on and we handle that.”
Celtic looking for revenge against Bundesliga opposition
The less said about Celtic’s result in Dortmund the better, it was a bad night that the team have shown they have the strength to recover from, let’s leave it at that.
Now, the challenge is to continue the fight shown against Atalanta into tonight’s fixture. Yes, RB Leipzig will be a difficult nut to crack, but they aren’t formidable as their losses already in the competition show.
Fanning the flames of a potentially special occasion, Celtic boss Rodgers has urged fans to roar the side on tonight even if they do need to be patient and stick with the team in tough moments.
As always, the fans will be there to help their side through, the onus is now on the players and manager to carry out the rest.
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