Key events
Result from Group H: Maccabi Haifa 2-0 Juventus (!)
Crisis club Juve lurch to a new low: Maccabi Haifa’s first home win since 2002.
Ange Postecoglu speaks to BT Sport: “We’ve got to be really positive … we’ve got to maintain our discipline tonight.
“I don’t think there will be many moments when you can take a breath … they want a result, we want a result, neither team is going to sit back. It should be a cracking game.
“If we want to continue in the competition, we’ve got to get a result tonight … it’s got to come off the back of a strong performance.”
The other match in the group this evening is Shakhtar Donetsk v Real Madrid. Due to the war in Ukraine, it will take place in Warsaw, Poland. The champions Madrid will be sure of progress if they win, having won three from three already.
It’s wall-to-wall this evening – John Brewin has England v Czech Republic in the women’s international football friendly right here:
The Group F table:
Half a hour until go-time.
Over on Channel 3, Scott Murray has the small matter of Milan v Chelsea, which is another 8pm kick-off:
Ten-man Manchester City are drawing 0-0 with Copenhagen with about 15 minutes left. Barry Glendenning is live-blogging it here:
Celtic have lost their previous six home matches in the Champions League. Is tonight the night to end that run? There is certainly nothing wrong with their home form in other competitions … Fingers crossed.
Ewan Murray
We are three weeks shy of the anniversary of a famous Celtic triumph. On 7 November 2012, Barcelona – Messi, Iniesta, Xavi et al – were vanquished 2-1 in Glasgow’s east end. Celtic were marching towards the last 16 of the Champions League with Miku, a loanee striker from Getafe, plus a centre-back pairing of Efe Ambrose and Kelvin Wilson. It was a special occasion that turned heads across Europe.
Table of Contents
Teams
Jota, who scored Celtic’s goal in the 3-1 reverse in Germany last week, has not recovered from a muscle injury and is left out of the squad. Juranović, Maeda, Jenz, Taylor and Furuhashi all come back into the starting lineup.
The Leipzig goalkeeper, Peter Gulacsi, has had surgery after tearing a cruciate ligament in last week’s match, and is sidelined as a result. Haidara comes in for Kampl in central midfield.
Celtic: Hart, Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Jenz, Taylor, O’Riley, Hatate, Haksabanovic, Maeda, Furuhashi, Abada. Substitutes: Giakoumakis, Mooy, Turnbull, McCarthy, Bernabei, Abildgaard, Bain, Siegrist, Robertson, Forrest, Ralston, Welsh.
RB Leipzig: Blaswich, Simakan, Orban, Gvardiol, Raum, Haidara, Schlager, Szoboszlai, Nkunku, Werner, Andre Silva. Substitutes: Poulsen, Forsberg, Ba, Nickisch, Diallo, Novoa, Henrichs, Kampl.
Referee: Halil Meler (Turkey)
Preamble
The good news for Celtic? They can still qualify for the knockout rounds. The bad news? To stay in with a chance, they have to beat Leipzig this evening, the Champions League debutants who defeated them 3-1 in Germany less than a week ago.
With a point from three matches and three matches to play, the odds are against Ange Postecoglou’s side, but as any student of European football knows, Atalanta managed to qualify from their group in 2019-20 despite having nil points at this halfway stage.
Last month, before their opener against Real Madrid, Postecoglou went viral with his stirring speech about wanting the fans to ‘dream of big wins’. “My job is to make sure they [the fans] come bouncing in, and hopefully we can send them bouncing out,” he said then. In terms of attitude from fans and players alike, the same goes for tonight. A win would be nice, too.
Kick-off: 8pm