Welcome to the 67 Hail Hail blog as Celtic take on Hibs in a Scottish League Cup knockout match at Celtic Park this Sunday afternoon.
The Bhoys took care of David Gray’s side last week at Easter Road, notching a 2-0 win in the Scottish Premiership. However, today’s dynamics will be different.
After last season’s early exit at this level of the tournament, Brendan Rodgers and the team will take it all for granted at 3 p. m. kick off.
Celtic have shown good form over the summer and in the first two games of the competition, so the home crowd is expecting a confident, attacking performance.
Throughout the afternoon and evening we’ll have all the news, updates and text watching live from Celtic Park, so keep up to date with the latest!You can follow all the moves below with the usual updates.
Here we go! It was Hibs who initiated the action.
Both groups take to the field with the same old Celtic Park theatre: Glen Daly and all that!
The enthusiasts are ready for this match and so am I. There is a huge crowd today for the first League Cup round clash, much stronger than at other round stadiums in Glasgow this weekend. The meeting, the kickoff and a great victory. !
The Celtic manager said in a pre-match interview: “We just gave his shoulder a bit extra rest. He has dealt with this very well over the years, since his time in Japan.
“Sometimes they hit him and he doesn’t feel very well.
“We didn’t want to take any chances with this one, so we removed it and we’ll see where it is early next week. “
Before kick-off, the Irish defender pointed out that Celtic were in a better position than at the start of last year’s League Cup.
He said: “Last season was difficult. The coach had just arrived and we were still in touch. We are in a position to achieve a greater impact. “
“It took us a while to gel and once we had a few games under our belt, we took a big step forward.
“We learned a little bit last week, obviously it was the first time we played against them this season, but we know that today is a cup game and it may be different. “
Luis Palma injured his ankle against Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership opener and missed last week’s game at Easter Road.
Rodgers warned he could be out for a few weeks, so it’s great to see him overcome that challenge and care about the team again.
He is a strong candidate to come on after the break and control the Hibs defense.
The Honduran is coming off a first season of ten goals and ten assists.
Kevin Clancy is the guy in the middle. Frank Connor and Steven Traynor are his assistants, with Craig Napier as fourth official on the sidelines.
At the Clydesdale House VAR booth we have Andrew Dallas, assisted by John McCrossan.
There’s no drama or controversy today, please guys.
There is a beautiful view. Adam Idah photographed in paradise. Only on the bench despite my previous prediction, but he will get minutes anyway. This has an effect that at this time deserves to be monitored.
?? #CELHIB | #PremierSports Cup | #CeltaFC?
The very good Matt O’Riley is back in the team and there are no genuine indications that he will end up leaving the club this summer beyond one or two rumours of significant interest in England.
In fact, Atalanta finally seem to have received the message that they are not for a reasonable sale – after five rejected offers – and have moved on to another target in midfield.
Here’s the latest on the situation.
Serie A Atalanta have publicly pursued Matt O’Riley over the last month, making him up to five offers. . .
Our XI to face Celtic today! ?Presented via @sbk ? pic. twitter. com/lqeDY93GQ0
There are a few takeaways from today’s announcement of the team.
The first is the apparent fear over Kyogo Furuhashi. He wasn’t part of the team. We know he has a shoulder problem at the moment and on Friday Brendan Rodgers reported that he was close to showing up, so nothing too serious is going on. We will have an update on this as soon as it is available.
Adam Idah is on the bench, so we see him in the second half. Daizen Maeda liked the midfield, probably due to Celtic’s lack of training time for the Republic of Ireland international.
It is also evident that Viljami Sinisalo will not enjoy himself as a goalkeeper at the moment. Kasper Schmeichel is firmly in place and the coach named the most powerful XI he has available.
Bets are not accepted. Victory for Rodgers and his team in the next round.
Starting XI: Schmeichel, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, McGregor, O’Riley, Hatate, Forrest, Kuhn, Maeda.
Substitutes: Sinisalo, Palma, Idah, Yang, Holm, Bernardo, Ralston, Welsh, Turley.
Alistair Johnston spoke to Celtic TV earlier this week to give his verdict on the season opener and what’s in store for the Bhoys.
We are about 15 minutes away from the official team leaving the game.
Brendan Rodgers will go through with a strong squad, but it will be unexpected to see some adjustments made to freshen things up and stars like Daizen Maeda arrive to buy some time to play.
Hibs manager David Gray has had a difficult start to the season, losing to Celtic and St Mirren in the first few weeks without scoring.
He needs to see another aspect of his team today, speaking ahead of Glasgow.
Gray said: “I think Celtic have been very clever and there’s no getting away from it, but there are things we can do 100 per cent. “The first goal, for example, is to give yourself a mountain to climb straight away.
“Losing a goal like we did, after 3 minutes of play, gives them a big boost, gives them one foot in the game and makes their afternoon difficult.
“The spaces where we can improve, we already know them, I think I said it right after the game, rarely when you communicate after the game do you reflect and think: ‘Well, did I perceive it correctly?Maybe I was a little critical there? I think when I think about it in retrospect, we can still be much braver with the ball.
“We didn’t take enough risk and I showed that to the guys, I showed them the spaces where we can be better. And we have to be better, because if we don’t, the same result will happen again. ” We want to improve, as I said, everyone is fully aware of it and we have been working on it this week.
Reports this weekend imply that Celtic are still chasing up to five positions in the closing stages of the summer window.
Here you have the latest news on the status of signings – incoming and outgoing – at the club.
After signing 4 first-team members over the summer months, Celtic have not been entirely inert when it comes to transfers. There is frustration for some. . .
Dundee, Falkirk, Aberdeen, Spartans and Rangers booked their place in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Motherwell v Kilmarnock and Dundee United v St Mirren will kick off at 2 p. m. , with our match being the last of the second weekend of the tournament.
The draw for the next round will take place shortly after the final whistle at Celtic Park.
A point-blank effort from Nicolas Kuhn and an absolute stunner from Callum McGregor led to victory over Hibs Week.
The first half was electric and although the game was a bit flat after the break, it is still a lovely encounter.
Here are all the highlights from the 2-0 win.
With nine goals in 19 appearances on loan last season, Adam Idah impressed Celtic fans.
Some of the goals he has scored have been nothing short of huge in winning titles, adding his last goal against Rangers in the Scottish Cup final.
The signs are that we will see him worried against Hibs today, but whether that will be from the start or on the bench remains to be seen.
I would put him in the XI and kick-start his long Celtic career.
It will be having him back on the field, especially after such a long move saga this summer.
You can watch Brendan Rodgers’ full press conference on the club’s official YouTube channel below.
He addressed, among other topics: – Rangers’ stupid fake step in terms of derby assignments – The arrival of Adam Idah – The remaining movement target in the window
The coach held his pre-match press conference on Friday and highlighted that his team is in a much better position than a year ago at this level of the tournament.
He said: “Last season we were disappointed, the team is now in a much better position.
“I look at this season and the way we’ve trained and worked, and we’ve incorporated that into games.
“It’s the next game and it’s the maximum and we need to qualify.
“There is no doubt that we set this goal and we need to win each and every trophy. It is something we know we have to work very hard for and it starts on Sunday.
Today’s match is on Premier Sports 1 in the UK and Ireland.
Celtic TV’s global subscribers outside the region will also be able to watch live coverage.
The match is broadcast in many countries around the world outside of this option, adding Paramount in the United States, beIN Sports 2 in Australia and Disney South America.
A full list of global channels can be found on LiveSoccerTV.
We will know the lineups shown when they are announced at 1:45 p. m.
Mikey Johnston is the only absentee for today’s match, there are indications that Kyogo Furuhashi and Alistair Johnston will be absent or take a bench position for it.
The Japanese striker injured his shoulder last week, something they are following closely.
The Canadian defender’s playing time is also under control after an intense summer with his country in the Copa America.
On the other hand, we saw Viljami Sinisalo make his competitive debut, as did Adam Idah’s debut after his permanent one-week signing.
XI predicted: Sinisalo, Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, McGregor, Bernardo, O’Riley, Kuhn, Maeda, Idah.
Celtic will face Hibernian on Sunday in the Scottish League Cup in a bid to correct the mistakes of last season’s access to the Scottish League Cup.
Good afternoon! Celtic’s in-form days are in sight at the moment.
It’s a pleasure to see them in the early stages of the season. Football flows, relationships between players flourish and it’s fair to say that fans are hopeful for the future.
Reaching the quarter-finals of the Scottish League Cup would be all of this and would provide momentum for the more difficult and demanding situations ahead.
Stay in touch throughout the day with plenty of news and updates before, during and after the game.