The Premiership fixtures before and after every Celtic Champions League clash

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Celtic now know who they will face at the beginning of the new season.

The Premiership fixtures were announced on Friday morning and they present a tasty early challenge for Brendan Rodgers‘ men.

Celtic will open with a home game against Ross County and travel to Aberdeen, Rangers, Hearts and Hibernian before the first round of matches is over.

The early portion of the season will also present an entirely different challenge in the shape of the UEFA Champions League group stage.

We won’t know our opponents in that until August 31, but we do already have the dates and can therefore work-out what Scottish sides we’ll face before and after our big continental battles.

Last year’s World Cup meant that the Champions League group stage was condensed down to just nine weeks.

This year it’s back to normal and will be spread over a total of 13 weeks. The schedule is as follows:

Matchday 1: 19–20 September

Matchday 2: 3–4 October

Matchday 3: 24–25 October

Matchday 4: 7–8 November

Matchday 5: 28–29 November

Matchday 6: 12–13 December

Our final game before our first Champions League outing is at home to Dundee, while we will travel to Livingston after our European opener.

We will be away to Motherwell prior to our matchday two clash, with Kilmarnock visiting Celtic Park in the days after.

The end of October should be pretty tasty. We’re due to go to Hearts on 21 October and Hibernian a week later. Our third Champions League clash will be in the middle of those two.

Ross County (away) and Aberdeen (home) will surround our fourth Champions League fixture.

We’ll host Motherwell before matchday five and travel to St. Johnstone in the days after it.

And we’ll be at Kilmarnock before our final Champions League group stage game, with Hearts to come at home afterwards.

The real one that stands out in terms of toughness is that late October run. But we will have to wait and see who comes up in the big Champions League draw, and when we face them.

Bring it all on.

In other news, Celtic have announced the retirement of Aaron Mooy