Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava predicted lineups and team news | OneFootball

Celtic ended a decade-long wait for a home Champions League win in their final European game last term and the Scottish champions will fancy their chances of starting out in the revamped competition in a similar vein.

Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava predicted line-ups

Celtic: Schmeichel; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; Engels, McGregor, Hatate; Maeda, Kuhn, Furuhashi

Slovan Bratislava: Takac; Wimmer, Bajric, Kashia, Blackman; Igntenko, Szoke; Weiss Jr, Tolic, Barseghyan; Strelec

The East End of Glasgow was once a fortress for the Hoops in the early part of this century but last December’s 2-1 win over Feyenoord was a first group-stage win at home in 10 years, while it also ended Celtic’s six-year wait for a victory of any kind in the Champions League.

With what appears a favourable draw in the new format, Brendan Rodgers will be all too aware that taking care of debutants Slovan Bratislava – the Slovakian outfit had to progress through four qualifying rounds just to get here – is paramount.

Time for Bhoys to step up

Celtic’s record in European competition at the turn of the millennium was stellar for a decade or so but, since reaching the Champions League last-16 in 2012/13, the Glasgow side have found life tough in continental competition.

There were, however, positive signs in home games against Lazio and Atletico Madrid prior to their victory over Feyenoord as they led three times in those matches but took only one point.

The revamped draw was a complete unknown for many teams but with home games against RB Leipzig, Club Brugge and Young Boys to follow this, Rodgers cannot hide from the fact that his team needs to make progress.

The former Liverpool and Leicester manager stated on his return for a second stint as boss at Parkhead that he wished to make strides in Europe and he could finally do so, as this new-look format appears to have been kind to the Hoops.

Slovan Bratislava are the first club from Slovakia to feature in the Champions League for 14 seasons – and just the fourth overall.

After seeing off opposition from North Macedonia, Slovenia and Cyprus, Slovan Bratislava edged out FC Midtjylland of Denmark in their final qualifier, as Marko Tolic and Tigran Barseghyan netted inside the final 10 minutes to turn the tie their way.

Vladimir Weiss Sr is also in his second stint as manager at Slovan Bratislava and has previous with Celtic as he was in charge of Artmedia Bratislava in 2005 when the Bhoys fell to one of their most embarrassing defeats ever in manager Gordon Strachan’s first game in charge, losing 5-0 in the first leg.

Weiss’ memories of Celtic Park are less pleasing, though, as they lost the second leg 4-0, just about clinging on to win on aggregate.

Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava team news

Rodgers appears to have a full complement to choose from here after Alistair Johnston played 90 minutes in the weekend win over Hearts, despite having limped out of Canada’s 2-1 friendly win against the United States previously.

Opposite number Weiss meanwhile looks set to remain without Lukas Pauschek as the 31-year-old defender has been missing since July with a shoulder injury.