James Forrest On Bench – Celtic Team vs Stuttgart Confirmed
Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
Fixture: Celtic vs Stuttgart
Competition: Europa League
Kick-off: 20:00 UK time
Martin O’Neill has picked his Celtic lineup vs Stuttgart for this evening’s Europa League playoff round clash against the German side.
O’Neill was able to get Celtic into a playoff round spot in the Europa League due to his skilled management, but the requirement now goes up a gear, with Stuttgart tough opposition.
They sit in fourth spot in the Bundesliga, in the hunt for Champions League football, and visit Glasgow looking to take a good result back to Germany for the second leg of the tie.
Stuttgart only missed out on finishing in the top eight in the Europa League league phase by a single point, but did lose three of their eight matches, offering Celtic some encouragement.
Celtic also strengthened significantly in the winter transfer window with a number of loan arrivals and O’Neill will hope his squad depth can help here.
The Bhoys beat Utrecht 4-2 in their last Europa League game at Celtic Park and the atmosphere at the ground is legendary.
O’Neill has made clear he wants his Celtic side to go for it in the tie, despite the tough nature of the opposition.
How much of a role Marcelo Saracchi will have in the tie is unclear, but he was recently hailed as a very good player by a former top flight star.
Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich have visited Celtic Park in Europe before and one of their players admitted just last year that the atmosphere at the ground is ‘rare’.
Kasper Schmeichel is in goal in the Celtic lineup vs Stuttgart tonight, while at the back O’Neill goes with Julian Araujo, Auston Trusty, Liam Scales and Kieran Tierney.
Midfield is set to be a key battleground this evening and the Celtic manager picks Callum McGregor, Paulo Bernardo and Benjamin Nygren, while Sebastian Tounetki and Daizen Maeda support Tomas Cvancara.
If O’Neill needs to shake things up by using his substitutes then he has options to change his Celtic lineup vs Stuttgart off the bench and they include James Forrest and Luke McCowan.
Celtic Lineup vs Stuttgart
Schmeichel, Araujo, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Bernardo, Nygren, Tounetki, Maeda, Cvancara
Substitutes: Sinisalo, Doohan, Adamu, Yang, McCowan, Iheanacho, Saracchi, Hatate, Murray, Forrest, Donovan, Ralston
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