If there is some apathy towards Rosenborg and the opening Europa League game at Celtic Park on Thursday evening it is not entirely different to understand why; this will be the fifth time that Brendan Rodgers’ side have faced the Norwegians in just 14 months while the competition itself does not carry the same glamour as the prestige and draw of the Champions League.
Still, Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor admirably sought to sift through for the positives ahead of the meeting and the fact that the Parkhead side have had the better of Rosenborg in the Champions League qualifier suggests something of an advantage going into the game.
“I think the fact that we’ve eliminated them twice in the last two seasons gives us an advantage psychologically,” said the Scotland internationalist. “When you’ve played well and beaten opponents before then it gives you the belief that you can get more results against them. We know that we can beat Rosenborg so it’s up to us to turn up with the right attitude on the night. The first game being at home is another bonus for us – the crowd will be behind us and, if we can take the three points, then it’ll help us push on as we look to get out of the group.”
In fairness, it could be a different looking Rosenborg that Celtic host on Thursday to the team they eliminated from the Champions League qualifiers earlier this summer. They were in some disarray when Celtic met them six weeks ago having parted acrimoniously with Kare Ingebrigtsen amidst rumours of dressing room revolt over the decision. Yet, under the guidance of Dutch manager Rini Coolen who took over the Norwegians have not lost since they played Celtic in Trondheim, having clocked up 9 wins and just one draw in their last 10 games.
“It’s a tough section,” insisted McGregor, in reference to last year’s quarter-finalists in the tournament Leipzip and Salzburg, both owned by Red Bull. “When you look at the rest of the competition, most of them are like that. You think of the Champions League as being a level above but when you see some of the teams who are in this tournament then there’s no shortage of quality. It’s always good to be in Europe and we know what we’re up against with them in terms of getting results in the group. The standard is high – Rangers have a difficult draw as well – but we’re looking to do something this season and this will be a good test for us.
“There was, obviously, a bit of disappointment after going out of the Champions League but we made sure that we qualified for the Europa League and that was a big thing for us.”
There is a suspicion about Celtic this term that they will do enough in the high profile games while meandering somewhat through others. There was a flatness about the Parkhead side in Paisley last Friday night as they were held to a scoreless draw by St Mirren, a performance that badly lacked the tempo and energy of the pervious domestic game against Rangers.
“The Rangers match was crucial,” acknowledged McGregor. “We felt that we had to put down a marker and let people know that we’re still here and we’re not going away. The performance on the day was excellent and if Allan McGregor hadn’t pulled off a string of excellent saves then we’d have beaten them by three or four goals again. It’s good for us to know that we’ve still got that in our locker and that we’re able to turn it on when it comes to the big occasions.”
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