Celtic’s Europa League clash with Roma is Wilfried Nancy’s first game in European competition.
Nancy is having a baptism of fire in his first week in Glasgow, having come from MLS to a hectic festive schedule in Scotland, where he is locked in a title race with Hearts.
In Europe, his first game will be a dugout mismatch in terms of experience. Roma boss Gian Piero Gasperini won this very competition in Dublin last year.
The 67-year-old has managed 900 games in his career, and almost half of those were in his storied spell with Atalanta.
He faced Brendan Rodgers’ Celts in Bergamo last season, but on his first visit to Celtic Park, he showed his appreciation for the stadium with a classy gesture.
Have you seen anything of Roma this season? What have you made of them?
Roma Gian Piero Gasperini’s Celtic gesture
It might not always feel like it in Europe, but Celtic Park has a formidable reputation.
Plenty of Italian sides have visited in recent seasons, including AC Milan, Lazio and Inter.
READ MORE: Wilfried Nancy clarifies stance on media ‘attacks’ in firm response to Celtic storm
But on his first visit to the ground, Gasperini made sure to take it in.
His pre-match press conference was held at Celtic Park, in the hospitality lounge of the Jock Stein stand.
And prior to the presser, which he partook in alongside Mario Hermoso, he asked to go out for a minute to take in the stadium from the top of the stand.
The video is available here, via La Roma:
Gian Piero Gasperini’s classy moment before Celtic press conference
Gasperini visited Ibrox with his Roma side last month, winning 2-0. I didn’t see any clips of him wanting a view of that place…
In fact, Roma fan @Fab809_ replied to the post on X, saying: “100 times better than that Ibrox toilet.”
A sound bunch, then.
Celtic’s recent clashes with Italian sides
Gasperini’s Atalanta were held by the Celts last year, as Rodgers’ men learned from the hammering at Dortmund by earning a 0-0 draw, led by outstanding performances from the goalkeeper and centre backs.
The season prior, in the Champions League against Lazio, it wasn’t so impressive – particularly at Celtic Park, where Pedro won the game with the last kick.
In the infamous closed-doors season of 2020-21, Celtic were beaten home and away by AC Milan – but beating that team isn’t the biggest of achievements.
It was just the season prior when it was Celtic doing the double, getting two last-gasp winners against Lazio courtesy of Christopher Jullien and Olivier Ntcham and topping the group.
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