Celtic return to European action tonight as they take on Dutch team FC Utrecht. Its a return to Parkhead for former Rangers coach Jan Wouters as he is the assistant to boss Ton Du Chatinier. Neil Lennon's men will be looking for a better showing after being dumped out the Champions League Qualifiers by Braga. The Parkhead side will be on a high going into this game as on Saturday they started their assault the SPL title by gaining a 1-0 win vs 1st Division champions Inverness.
This week Celtic have already added Swedish captain Daniel Majstorovic and Honduras Internationalist Emilio Izaguirre to the 7 players already signed. The Swedish defender has already put his name forward for his debut tonight as Celtic will chase a 1st leg advantage to take to Holland with them in 7 days time. Izaguirre will need to wait on his work permit before he figures in manage Lennon's plans.
If Celtic are to progress to the Europa League Group stage then they must stop new Dutch Internationalist Ricky van Wolfswinkel , has has already scored 6 goals this season , 3 of them in Europe and 3 in the Eredivisie. The 21 year old made his full Holland debut this month in the 1-1 draw away to Ukraine , its also been reported that Liverpool are interested in signing the young hit man. So far FC Utrecht have disposed of Albanians SK Tirana 5-1 on aggregate and Swiss side Luzern 4-1 over 2 legs so Utrecht are certainly in form for this this competition.
Neil Lennon will have some important picks to make for this game , does he bring in the Swede Majstorovic for his debut even though his defence kept a clean sheet on Saturday??. Who will start up front?? will there be 1 or 2 strikers remembering that Gary Hooper is missing with injury ad how in-effective Samaras was vs Braga. Whoever he picks must do a job as the Celtic fans will be expecting Lennon's side to make it through to Groups stages for the 2nd year in a row.
Prediction - I expect Celtic to win this game but it wont be easy as Utrecht have a bit of form so far in this competition (they certainly score goals). Looking more closely at Utrecht though shows that they were beaten 3-1 away to Feyenoord in the opening game of the Dutch season , that might show the barometer of the Utrecht side. Celtic to win 2-1 maybe 3-1 if Celtic play really well.
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