Bodo/Glimt manager Kjetil Knutsen has admitted that his side is having to “train differently” in order to tackle the huge challenge posed by Celtic.
The Hoops will face off against the Norwegian champions in just over a fortnight in the Europa Conference League. Ange Postecoglou’s side have produced some impressive performances in Europe, and will likely go into the match as favourites.
Celtic will also have the added bonus of being well into the second half of their campaign too. Bodo/Glimt, meanwhile, are only in their pre-season preparations.
And their manager Knutsen has been talking up the “very exciting” fixture as he opened up on their training camp in Spain.
Speaking via the official Bodo/Glimt website, Knutsen said: “Now we are past the first training week and now we go into the normal match cycle and will train with high intensity before we enter the next match. We work hard to make progress every single day. The most important thing is to deliver high-quality today and then think about tomorrow.
“We have two games against Celtic that come early in the season. It is incredibly fun and gives us a huge boost. But then we also have to train differently. When we call it “match camp”, it means that we go straight into combat and get a normal combat cycle. It is incredibly exciting considering that they are in season and we are in the run-up, but we really have little focus on the match. It is everyday training that is important now.
Bodo/Glimt prepping hard for Celtic crunch tie
The Norwegian champions certainly look like a different squad from the one that Celtic will have seen footage off earlier this season.
Make no mistake, this isn’t the same Bodo/Glimt that destroyed Jose Mourinho’s Roma. Remove any fears you may have that they will come to Celtic Park and produced the same. Several key attacking talents have already left Bodo since then.
Knutsen is really having to mould a new side together with 4 acquisitions made already. The most notable differences to the Norwegians comes in the final third. That lightning attack that blew Roma away is simply no longer at the club.
Erik Botheim and Patrick Berg have both left the club. Defensive talent Frederik Andre Bjorkan is also out the door. It looks as though Ola Solbakken could also be joining them too [Il Secolo XIX].
It will of course be a difficult challenge when the tie comes around. They had an extremely strong group stage campaign and they will fancy themselves to do some real damage in their first competitive match of the season.
But in truth, this is a game and a tie Celtic should have more than enough to win. Hopefully, that’s exactly how it pans out.
In other news, The man who’s likely to captain Celtic against Rangers with McGregor and Bitton out
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