Scottish Champions Celtic are travelling to Greece to take on AEK Athens to secure their promotion in the Champions League main draw. The Bhoys were left frustrated after they couldn’t manage to go past the Greek outfit at home. They would be in need of an away goal as the match at Parkhead ended 1-1. Under Brendan Rodgers, the Scottish giants have done well to qualify for two consecutive seasons to the elite European competition, but this time around, things seem to be on edge.
What would have frustrated the Hoops was that they played more than half an hour of the game with a man-up at home. The contest is likely to go down to the wire now, and Rodgers would need every ounce of energy from his side to go past the resilient Greek outfit. Greek manager Marinos Ouzounidis has urged the fans to give a boisterous reception to his team and give hell to the Scottish outfit and so one can expect Celtic’s task to be cut out.
Team News
Forward Moussa Dembele who last played in the first round of the qualifiers has travelled with the team and is expected to play a part in the game. It remains to be seen whether he starts or not. Kristoffer Ajer is going to miss the encounter as he has accumulated another yellow card on Wednesday in the first leg clash at home.
Formation (4-2-3-1)
Defence
The experienced Craig Gordon will start in between the sticks for this all crucial encounter and he will be shielded by the centre-back pairing of Jozo Simunovic and Jack Hendry. The two of them were unable to keep it tight against Hearts in the last match as they suffered their first defeat of the season. Rodgers would hope for a big performance from those two. Kieran Tierney and Mikael Lustig will start in their usual fullback roles.
Midfield
The experienced Scott Brown would be the first name in midfield, and we expect Olivier Ntcham to come into the starting eleven because he had not been part of the encounter against Hearts. Scott Brown will sit back, and Ntcham would have more freedom to bomb forward.
The attacking onus from the wide regions would be provided by Tom Rogic and James Forrest who were rested in the weekend. Callum Mcgregor will start in the attacking midfielder role.
Attack
Moussa Dembele has travelled with the team but we expect Rodgers to start Odsonne Edouard up front and when required, Dembele would come off the bench.
