MUNAS Dabbur, Red Bull Salzurg’s star Israeli striker, failed to show up for the club’s pre-match press conference yesterday but Celtic are unlikely to be so lucky when their Group B encounter kicks off at the Stadion Salzburg tonight. The 26-year-old, who is also in line for a key role for his national team when face Scotland on Uefa Nations League duty in Haifa next week, might have picked up a fine yesterday but he has proved his value to his team by notching seven goals in nine games for the unbeaten Austrian outfit this season. The hosts are also boosted by the return of veteran Austrian defender Andreas Ulmer and highly-rated Malian midfielder Amadou Haidara available after a knee problem.
In Dabo’s absence, it was left to manager Marco Rose – a one-time disciple of Jurgen Klopp’s at Mainz in Germany – to put tonight’s challenge into context. Last season’s semi-finalists in this competition, Rose is downplaying the early season chat amongst his players about going one better this time around, as a means to salve the hurt from their shock Champions League exit to Crvena Zvevda. Already with a convincing nine-point advantage in the Austrian league, they are unbeaten in 16 matches all season long, with their only two draws coming against the side from Belgrade.
Rose said he thought Celtic were a cut above your typical Scottish side. “I think it is going to be a nice game, both teams are really good, and are capable of putting in strong performances,” said the 42-year-old from Leipzig, who masterminded a 3-2 win over RB Leipzig in his home town in the group’s opening match day.
“We shouldn’t believe that Celtic like back in the days have a typical Scottish way of playing,” he added. “They have a clear way to play the game, they are very strong, play solid football, when they have the ball they know what to do with it. They have some really good players in their team but we are looking at ourselves, we want to win the game.
“We want to go very far in European competition this year but we shouldn’t look too far ahead. The semi-final will take place in April next year. Now it is October so there is a lot of time to go before that. Tomorrow we have a very strong opponent and we want to take it step by step.” Celtic fans will make up around 1,5000 of a crowd of 22,000 in the Stadion Salzburg - renamed for Uefa competition from the Red Bull Arena.
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