The Champions League is heating up nicely and already two of the top five face each other after matchday one. It’s the German giants against the Champions of Scotland: Borussia Dortmund versus Celtic. Dortmund are in good form and have lost just one game since the start of the season, albeit that was a 5-1 hammering at the hands of Stuttgart. Here on Last Word on Football, we provide our Celtic predicted lineup as they bid to continue their 100% record this season.
Celtic Predicted Lineup vs Borussia Dortmund
How Celtic Have Lined up Recently
In terms of starting line-ups, there has been little change from Brendan Rodgers’ side. Out with a cup tie at home to Championship side Falkirk, there have been just seven changes in eight games. With Cameron Carter-Vickers being injured plus early season knocks for Nicolas Kuhn, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi, this is emphasised even more.
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However, there has been rotation through the team during the match; there is often a lot of activity on the bench. Adam Idah, Luke McCowan and James Forrest are examples of those who have contributed this season without making a whole load of starts.
Celtic Recent Form and Tactics
Domestically, Celtic have been perfect. They’ve played six in the league with six victories and six clean sheets; they look certain to breeze to another title. On top of this, they find themselves in a Premier Sports Cup semi-final tie against an in-form Aberdeen side.
In Europe, there is progress to be made. Having underachieved on the continental stage for a considerable time, the Hoops started off this campaign in dreamland with a dominant display over Slovakian Champions Slovan Bratislava. It was the start of a wonderful sequence of three matches where the Glaswegian side would score five or more goals. Although, you would expect that to end against Dortmund.
Tactically, we saw some similarities on Saturday night, to what we may see in Germany. Of course, Celtic will not have 76% of possession, neither will they score six goals. However, direct passing could very well be a pertinent feature.
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Quite often we saw Celtic, in the final third, play passes just over the backline of St Johnstone; they will likely try the same against Dortmund and aim to get their front three of Maeda, Kyogo and Kuhn running at the yellow wall.
In pre-season, this was evident particularly in their 4-1 victory over Chelsea. If the space opened up they simply chose to lob the ball over the backline and make it a race for pace.
Out of possession, Celtic will likely press with a front three against the back four of Dortmund, and push Engels and Bernardo onto the Dortmund double-pivot. They will have to be smart against quality opposition, but the pressing and counter-pressing have been the single-most areas where Celtic have improved this season.
Injuries to Consider
Carter-Vickers will miss out, meaning Trusty will keep his place. The 26-year-old had a positive showing at the weekend and looks comfortable enough on his weaker foot to play the opposite side. Throughout the 90 minutes in Perth, he was able to control the ball with his right foot, giving himself enough time to find passes. This will be essential on Tuesday, as at the higher level he will have less time on the ball, and may even find himself a press trigger.
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Greg Taylor picked up a slight knock on Saturday and had to be taken off at half-time. However, this seems to have been a precautionary decision more than anything else. Should he miss it, then Alex Valle will step in; the Spaniard put up a composed performance last time out, including a flashy assist to Irishman Idah.
Celtic Predicted Lineup
It will be an unchanged side from Saturday’s six-nil victory.
Kasper Schmeichel
Alistair Johnson
Auston Trusty
Liam Scales
Greg Taylor
Callum McGregor
Paulo Bernardo
Arne Engels
Nicolas Kuhn
Kyogo Furuhashi
Daizen Maeda
