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ROSENBORG (0) V CELTIC (0) (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE THIRD ROUND QUALIFIER SECOND LEG: WEDNESDAY 2ND AUGUST; 7:45PM)
After a goalless first leg Celtic travel to Trondheim needing a score draw or a victory to keep our Champions League ambitions alive for another season.
Team Selection: The big news is that both Leigh Griffiths and Erik Sviatchenko, who missed the first leg due to injury have travelled to Norway and according to Celtic assistant manager Chris Davies both players are ‘available for selection’. Having Griffiths back in the squad makes a huge difference as Celtic toiled badly last week playing without a recognised striker. Hopefully we’ll find out later tonight during Brendan Rodgers’ press conference, but it seems likely to me that Griffiths will start on the bench, with James Forrest playing in the most advanced forward role.
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Callum McGregor seems likely to start after his performance against Sunderland at the weekend, and will there be a start for Jonny Hayes? In defence, Rodgers has to decide if to stick with Kristoffer Ajer at the back or bring Sviatchenko back. Similar to the Griffiths situation, I think Sviatcheno will start on the bench.
It’s vitally important that the correct team is selected as this is such a huge game for Celtic, crashing out of the Champions League at this stage would be a disaster for the club.
Prediction: This will be a very tense game as so much is at stake. It could be very cagey as neither side will want to make a mistake, so I would imagine there won’t be many goals, but I feel that Celtic have the attacking players to get a result on the night and keep the Champions League run going.
Rosenborg 1 Celtic 2