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THE NEXT BIG THING: A CELTIC-PSG PREVIEW

Celtic FC v Manchester City FC - UEFA Champions League
Once more into the breach...
Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images

CELTIC V PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN: CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP B MATCHDAY 1; TUESDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER 7:45PM

Celtic return to the Champions League Group Stages for the second year running, and just like last season we face a very tough test in our first game, taking on the billionaires of PSG.

Team Selection: Brendan Rodgers has some big decisions to make, to ensure we don’t suffer a result like the 7-0 loss to Barca last season. Even though we played with a kind of 3-4-3 formation against Hamilton on Friday I would expect us to revert to our more usual 4-4-3/4-5-1 hybrid formation.

Craig Gordon, despite a shaky start to the season will start in goals. The full-backs will be Kieran Tierney and Mikael Lustig, and at centre-back it will be Jozo Simunovic alongside...Nir Bitton. As Dedryck Boyata is still injured, I would imagine that Bitton - who was destroyed against in the trip to Astana - will still get the nod to start. Let’s hope he has the game of a lifetime.

Celtic Training and Press Conference
James Forrest, will he start tomorrow?
Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images

In midfield Scott Brown will sit in front of the back four to offer them protection, with Olivier Ntcham and Stuart Armstrong in the middle of the park. On the wings, Scott Sinclair and in my opinion James Forrest will get the nod over Patrick Roberts to start, as he has had far more game time this season. Up front Leigh Griffiths will be the lone striker, but hopefully at times he will get support from the aforementioned Sinclair and Forrest.

Celtic Training and Press Conference
Scott Sinclair training ahead of tomorrow’s game
Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images

Previous Meetings: Celtic played PSG in the 1995-96 Cup Winner’s Cup, with the French side triumphing 4-0 on aggregate over the two legs. We wrote about the games in detail here.

Prediction: This is going to be an extremely tough night for Celtic, coming up against the likes of Cavani, Neymar and Mbappe, and it seems inevitable that PSG will score goals. If we had our strongest side available - for example Boyata and Dembele - then I would be a bit more confident that Celtic could get a result, and I firmly believe that we can create chances and score goals tomorrow night...I just feel that PSG will create more chances and score more goals than us, and we’ll go down to a ‘respectable’ defeat.

Celtic 2 Paris Saint-Germain 4