Celtic will compete in the inaugural Como Cup this weekend.
Brendan Rodgers’ side will compete in the tournament alongside Ajax, Como and Saudi Arabian giants Al Ahli.
It will be the final test of Celtic’s pre-season fixtures before the Scottish Premiership season opener against St Mirren on 3 August.
The Hoops will come up against Nicolas Kuhn after he joined Como and is working under Cesc Fabregas.
Como have spent big this summer and the former Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea star has admitted there is one problem he has when preparing to face the Bhoys.
Cesc Fabregas reveals how he has prepared to face Celtic
Fabregas earned plenty of plaudits for his first season in management as Como finished 10th in Serie A.
Although he is under no illusion that facing Rodgers and co will be a difficult test, he admitted that the domestic dominance makes it harder to find weaknesses.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the tournament opener, Fabregas said: “It will be nice because they have quality players. They won the league by far this year and they play in Europe. If we do play against them, it will be a big test.
“I watched more individual clips of them, not so much collectively. But it’s a very interesting team. The problem is that analysing these teams is a bit difficult because they are normally so superior every week in their league.
“But doing it in Europe, that’s where you see the real value and level.”
Celtic to reunite with two former Hoops
As well as testing themselves against two strong teams, there is also the chance that Celtic will come up against two former Bhoys.
Kuhn isn’t overly popular with Celtic supporters after his big move whereas Alex Valle impressed in the first half of last season before his loan was cut short and he headed to Italy instead.
As it stands, both Celtic and Como would need to win their respective games against Ajax and Al Ahli to ensure they face each other in the final.
Alternatively, they could both lose, but that’s something we hope doesn’t happen.
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