The players are out
The teams have just walked out onto the pitch after a spine-tingling rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone by 60,000 mad Celtic fans. And now it’s the UEFA Champions League anthem.
This is dizzy stuff folks, the uppermost echelon of football.
Upsets do happen – Dinamo Zagreb just proved it
The odds are very much against Celtic here this morning but it’s not impossible for them to win. Just look at one of the other results from the Champions League – Chelsea have been beaten 1-0 by Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb.
Mislav Orsic scored early on the break and the Croatian champions were able to sit behind that goal and grind out an incredible result.
Ange Postecoglou likes to approach his football a little differently – there’ll be no sitting behind anything at Celtic Park! – but don’t rule out another upset.
Here are the line-ups
Celtic: Hart, Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Jenz, Taylor, O’Riley, McGregor, Hatate, Abada, Giakoumakis, Jota.
Subs: Furuhashi, Haksabanovic, Mooy, Turnbull, McCarthy, Bernabei, Bain, Siegrist, Maeda, Forrest, Ralston, Welsh.
Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal, Eder Militao, Alaba, Mendy, Modric, Tchouameni, Kroos, Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Junior.
Subs: Nacho, Hazard, Asensio, Camavinga, Lunin, Lucas, Ceballos, Rodrygo, Rudiger, Mariano, Lopez.
So that’s two changes for Celtic – Kyogo Furuhashi, their star Japanese striker, comes off the bench after taking a knock against Rangers in that incredible 4-0 Old Firm win over the weekend. Carl Starfelt is also out with injury, Mortiz Jenz is in.
Good morning
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of a big, big morning for Australian football – it’s Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League. At club level it truly does not get any bigger than this.
Postecoglou is about to become the first Aussie to ever coach in this tournament. Can he conjure up an upset for the ages?
Let’s find out!
