Euro Bhoys Back For Bodø Battle
~~~~~~~~~~ Official TC Match Preview ~~~~~~~~~~




Celtic Park, Glasgow
Thursday, 17 February 2022
20.00 GMT

After comfortably progressing past Raith Rovers in the Cup at the weekend, Celtic turn their attention to the return of European football, as they host Bodø/Glimt in the first leg of the UEFA Conference League Knockout Round Play-Off tie under the lights and in front of what should be a highly energized Celtic Park on Thursday.

The Hoops, who have been in fine form, stylized by the attacking brand of 'Angeball', and have fought their way back to the summit of the domestic scene; top of the table in the league and booked their place into the Quarter Finals of the Scottish Cup, so now is the time for the Hoops to carry that onto the Continental stage.

This match against the back to back defending Norwegian champions will be the first chance to see the Bhoys test themselves against European opposition since defeating Real Betis in December.

With the squad having been augmented in January with some additional signings as well as players returning from injury lay-offs, hopes are high that this is just the beginnning. A launching pad as the Hoops continue to fight on three fronts, as they seek to add more silverware to the League Cup, which already resides in the trophy cabinet inside Paradise.

And although Celtic won 3 games in the Group Stage of the Europa League earlier this season, it has been a mixed bag in terms of results. While performances have generally been impressing, and the Bhoys were highly competitive in 5 of the 6 group matches, the one serious concern being that they've conceded 15 goals along the way during those 6 games - which was more than any other team in the competition during that phase.

Thankfully things do appear to have tightened up at the back, at least on the domestic evidence and current form, having kept 4 clean sheets while scoring 15 goals in the past 5 games. And this will need to be carried forward on Thursday if the Hoops have aspirations of making a deep run in this new UEFA Conference League.


Liel Abada came off the bench to help defeat Real Betis in December

Bodø/Glimt

Meanwhile, the Scandinavian visitors have not played a competitive game since the middle of December, when their domestic season came to an end and the conclusion of the Group phase of this competition also. However, nothing can be taken for granted and Postecoglou will've been stressing to the Bhoys in preparation for this encounter.

The visitors have had a dramatic rise in their fortunes since 2017, which was no mere coincidence with the arrival of Kjetil Knutsen at the club. Initially joining as Assistant Manager in 2017, Knutsen helped push them to the First Division (the Norwegian second tier) title and the following year took over the top job. Since then, under his stewardship, Bodø/Glimt were able to initially consolidate their position in the top tier during the 2018 campaign, then pushing on, finishing Runner Up in 2019 and then going on to lift the Eliteserien title in 2020 & 2021.

This is the first time that these two sides will have locked horns, although Celtic are no strangers to coming up against Nordic opponants - one of the most prominant have been Rosenberg, also from Norway, whom the Hoops have faced in 10 of the 12 matches that they've squared off against teams from that country.


Liam Scales' strike opened the scoring against Raith Rovers at the weekend​

Tough to Beat

Celtic, as we have witnessed have been putting in some pretty impressive performances and have remained undefeated in all competitions since the away trip to Bayer Leverkusen in November.

Since that match, Ange Postecoglou's Bhoys have won 16 of the past 17 games, the only blemish on that run was when the Hoops were held to a 0-0 draw away to St Mirren before Christmas, and will be looking for their 10th consecutive win on Thursday since then.

Indeed, since the beginning of October, Celtic have won 23 of their 26 games, with 2 draws and the only defeat being on that aforementioned trip away to Germany.

Bodø/Glimt have also a very impressive record, as they've not been defeated in any competitive match since August, when Pristhina of Kosovo defeated them during Conference League Qualifying.

The Norwegians, however, were able to overcome that setback on the return leg, and proceeded to navigate through the Conference League Group Stage undefeated, winning their 3 home matches - including a stunning 6-1 hammering of Jose Mourinho's Roma - and drawing the 3 away games, narrowly finishing as Group Runners-Up.

Admittedly, Bodø/Glimt have not played a competitive match since the middle of December - and have drawn 9 of the 26 matches played since the last time they suffered a defeat - but this does point to their resillience and how well they have been drilled. So even though they've not been in competitive action for almost two months, this is still an impressive and one they will not be wanting to give up on without a fight.​

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Team News​

Ange Postecoglou will likely be making a few changes from the side that was put out against Raith Rovers at the weekend. There will be a likely return for the likes of Josip Juranovic, who has missed the past couple of games while recovering from a recent illness, wingers Liel Abada and Jota, defender Carl Starfelt and skipper Callum McGregor in place of the likes of Stephen Welsh, Nir Bitton, Mikey Johnston and James Forrest.

In any event, it will be a vastly different side from both the one that was put out against Real Betis, back in December, and the one fielded at the weekend.

Elsewhere, there was a spine-tingling welcome back for Christopher Jullien at the weekend after more than a year out, which would have left the Frenchman in no doubt how much he has been missed by the fans, and which was another step in Postecoglou's squad getting back to full strength.

As for David Turnbull and Kyogo Furuhashi, they remain sidelined, the former hopefully should be back in action before the end of the month, with the Japanese striker hopefully only a week or so behind that.

As for Bodø/Glimt, manager Kjetil Knutsen has had just a few friendlies to get his team prepared for this match, with the last of these being against Elsborg last week, while in a training camp in Spain. The Norwegian champions have sold some of their prize assets, such as striker Erik Botheim for a club record fee, and former club captain Patrick Berg, which have left considerable boots to be filled.

To that end, Bodø/Glimt have signed a number of players since the turn of the year, recruiting Runar Espejord, Japhet Sery Larsen and Brice Wembangomo to slot in alongside the dependable Alfonse Samosted, winger Ola Solbakken and midfielder Morten Konradsen, who have been mainstays over the past few seasons.

Although the task facing Knutsen is not anywhere near the extent of the rebuild that Postecoglou faced upon his arrival at Lennoxtown, it is still a considerable task and it is difficult to know how much progress has been made simply off the back of a couple of friendlies that have been played in preparation for Thursday's match.


Against Norwegian Teams

Overall
P: 12 W: 7 D: 2 L: 3​

Last 5 Meetings v Norwegian Opponants
WWDWW


2021/22 Form

Overall
WWWWW ~ WDDDW

CEL Home ~ BOD Away
WWWWW ~ WDDDD​