Celtic have travelled to France to face Rennes in the UEFA Europa League tonight.
Celtic kick off a new group stage campaign in Europe tonight, facing Rennes in the UEFA Europa League.
The Hoops have played in the group stages of either this competition or the UEFA Champions League in each of the last eight seasons, so it’s nine-in-a-row for Neil Lennon’s side.
As second seeds in the process, they’ll fancy their chances of progression to the Round of 32 too.
Rennes though will provide a stern test. As French Cup winners they’re on an upward trajectory, also reaching the last 16 of this competition in 2018/19.
The Hoops will be looking to avoid defeat, while the French hosts will be keen to stamp their authority on the group.
It’s vital that Lennon gets his team selection spot on.
That starts in goal with Fraser Forster clearly the number one choice right now despite the presence of Craig Gordon. Forster has played away to Rennes with Celtic before and will be looking to avoid the horror show of a Cha Du-Ri own goal this time around.
The defence should be a no-brainer for Lennon too, with Hatem Abd Elhamed, Kristoffer Ajer, Christopher Jullien and Boli Bolingoli all likely to start unless there’s a formation change of some sort.
Jullien has been confirmed fit for the match despite suffering a head knock against Hamilton at the weekend.
Celtic have kept clean sheets in their last two fixtures and will hope that continues tonight.
In midfield is where things start to get more interesting, with Lennon dropping a selection hint in his press conference yesterday.
As quoted by FourFourTwo, the Celtic boss admitted he could select Olivier Ntcham, telling reporters: “Yes, I am tempted to bring him in, because he’s a good player.
“And I think the guys coming back to France… Jullien knows the environment very well, Odsonne has been away with the Under-21s and done fantastically well.
“I always think going back to your home country is a great incentive to show the people back home, your family, your friends, how much you have come on and how much you have developed.”
That means a central midfield three of Scott Brown, Callum McGregor and Olivier Ntcham is very likely.
In the event that Ntcham features, Ryan Christie is the most likely to drop out despite scoring eight goals this season.
Given it’s an away match in Europe, the Hoops can’t have too many ambitious forward thinking midfielders on the pitch and Brown, McGregor and Ntcham provide a good balance across all responsibilities.
Christie remains an excellent weapon though, so what Lennon’s final decision is will be interesting to see.
With Odsonne Edouard almost guaranteed to lead the attack, that leaves the selection of new signing Mohamed Elyounoussi and the ever reliable James Forrest to support him.
Elyounoussi will be full of confidence after creating an assist on his debut. He has a decent record in UEFA competition too, scoring nine goals during spells with Molde and Basel.
Can he do the business tonight?
Your predicted lineup in full is:
GK – Fraser Forster
RB – Hatem Abd Elhamed
CB – Kristoffer Ajer
CB – Christopher Jullien
LB – Boli Bolingoli
CM – Scott Brown
CM – Callum McGregor
CM – Olivier Ntcham
RW – James Forrest
LW – Mohamed Elyounoussi
ST – Odsonne Edouard
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