The two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers are to feature in a pre-season friendly tournament in France. More significantly, the friendlies – played under the banner of the Veolia Trophy – will be in front of spectators. However, French front-line key workers are to be allocated the tickets.
The two Scottish clubs will compete with two French sides for the Veolia Trophy. The other clubs involved are Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon) and Nice. No two clubs from the same country will face each other. Therefore, the format will see each club play twice over two days.
Veolia Trophy Will Be Played in Front of a Crowd
Veolia Trophy Draw
The draw for the Veolia Trophy was made on Friday morning. The four matches will be:
July 16th
Nice vs Celtic – 5.15pm
Lyon vs Rangers – 7.45pm
July 18th
Nice vs Rangers – 5.15pm
Lyon vs Celtic – 7.45pm
Times are GMT. Although, for people in France who are using Central European Summer Time (CEST), merely add one hour on to the above times.
The matches will take place at the Décines Stadium, the home of Olympique Lyonnais. In total, there could be 5,000 fans allowed into Lyon’s ground. This is because the French Government have relaxed their COVID-19 restrictions.
Celtic Reunion
The match against Lyon will see Celtic face one of their former players in Moussa Dembele, who has legendary status at Parkhead. He scored 51 goals in 94 appearances for Celtic, in all competitions.
His performances led to Dembele joining Lyon in a £19.7 million deal in Summer 2018. This is widely considered the best deal in the history of Celtic. Mainly, as Celtic only paid £500,000 for him just two years previously, when he signed from Fulham.
Celtic are likely to receive an additional payment, as they have a sell-on clause. Yesterday, Dembele was linked with a move to Arsenal.
The two Scottish teams are currently preparing for the 2020/21 season. Celtic begin their defence of the Scottish Premier League title with a home match on August 2nd against Hamilton Academical. Meanwhile, Rangers travel to Aberdeen on August 1st for their first match of the new season.
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