ANDRE Schubert, the Borussia Monchengladbach head coach, said last night that he will need eleven "monsters" on the pitch if he is to defy the club's injury crisis and get a positive result at Celtic Park.
The Germans who sit back in ninth in the Bundesliga table, have yet to record a single Champions League point and are set to be without five first-team regulars at Parkhead tonight.
Star strikers Thorgan Hazard and Raffael both miss out through injury, as does Swiss frontman Josip Drmic, USA wide midfielder Fabian Johnson and highly-rated on-loan Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen.
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Schubert pointed at the example of his strong-willed striker Andre Hahn and said all eleven of his players would have to unleash their inner beast to survive the expected onslaught in the East End of Glasgow.
“We are going to go into the game with a lot of aggression," said Schubert. "We are going to meet with a lot of passion from the fans. Hahn has a monster mentality and we need 11 of those against Celtic if we are to get a result. This will be a big challenge but we need to make an impact and be aggressive.
“It is always going to be difficult without key players – in attack and defence," the coach added. "These guys who are missing score a lot of goals. But we have good players to come in and we believe they can do well. Hopefully we can get a result."
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While Celtic's opening two group matches have ended in markedly different outcomes - a 7-0 defeat at the Camp Nou against Barcelona was followed by a 3-3 draw against Manchester City - Schubert insisted the Germans have left nothing to chance in their analysis. He pinpointed Scott Sinclair and Moussa Dembele as particular threats, as well as Celtic's delivery from set plays.
“It’s not difficult to assess Celtic as we have analysed their games - in Scotland and in Europe," he said. "They are a high-quality team and we watched them thoroughly. This is a very big challenge for us. Lots of different things can affect the game and small things can matter.
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“There are a number of challenges for us – Celtic have a number of dangerous strikers like Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair. He is very good on one on one situations. They are very hard to defend against from set pieces. But we have good players too and we will try to make our quality count."
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