Hoops' Historic Spanish Quest

Hoops Historic Spanish Quest
~~~~~~~~~~ Official TC Match Preview ~~~~~~~~~~


Kyogo Furuhashi gave Celtic a dream start in the 2-2 draw with Atletico Madrid last month


Estadio Metropolitano, Madrid
Tuesday, 7 November 2023
20.00 GMT

The Hoops travel to the Spanish Capital to take on Atletico Madrid on Tuesday evening, in what could be a pivitol night in the Champions League for all 4 clubs in Group E.

The Bhoys will be all too well aware that their efforts a fortnight ago in Glasgow will need to be matched once again if they are to keep in touch with the rest of the Group in the hunt for continued European football in the new year.

After three games, Feyenoord lead the Group on 6 points, followed by Atletico on 5 and Lazio on 4. But Celtic have had their opportunities in all 3 of those games and could have had more than just the 1 point to show for their efforts, in demonstrating that they can compete with these opponants.

The question remains, can they do so on the Iberian Peninsula though?​

Luis Palma fires a spectacular long range goal in the 3-0 win over Ross County at the weekend

This time, the Madrid side are coming into this game on the back of a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Las Palmas on Friday evening. It was just their second loss of the season across all competitions. Despite this, they remain just 3 points off the pace, trailing behind their Madrid neighbours, Real, in the La Liga title race.

If Celtic can manage to go one better than the 2-2 draw that they earned at home, it will be truly a notable achievement. In fact, no other team has defeated Atletico at the Estadio Metropolitano since January, when Barcelona got the better of them, 1-0.

Not only that, but no Celtic side has ever won against Spanish opposition on Spanish soil.

In 19 attempts the best that the Bhoys have managed were the famous 0-0 in 2003/04 and 1-1 the following season against Barcelona at the Camp Nou during the Martin O'Neill era, and a 1-1 draw with Tuesday's opponants in 1985.

It would therefore, truly be history in the making were Rodgers' side able to achieve it!

By the Numbers​

• The Hoops are hunting their first Champions League Group Stage win since defeating Anderlecht in September 2017.

• Including his time at Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers has won just 2 out of 21 Champions League Group Stage games in his entire managerial career.

• Celtic has never defeated a Spanish opponant on Spainish soil in 19 attempts.

• The Madrid side currently boast a perfect winning record at home this season, having won all 6 of their fixtures there this season.

James Forrest nods home against County. The winger has scored in every season since 2009/10

Team News

Brendan Rodgers took the precaution of resting a number of key players as he rotated the squad for the Ross County game at the weekend. And while the Bhoys will continue to be without Reo Hatate (hamstring), Liel Abada (thigh) and Stephen Welsh (ankle), expect the likes of Kyogo Furuhashi and Matt O'Riley to return to the starting XI.

As for the visitors, manager Diego Simeone will be without the services of Samuel Lino, Vitolo, Thomas Lemar and Reinildo, while Memphis Dupay and Ivo Grbic also remain doubtful for this encounter.

Rodrigo De Paul will also be missing for the Madrid side, following the red card that he was shown in the previous meeting between these sides, last month.

Referee: Ivan Kružliak (SVK)

The Slovakian official has taken charge of 15 Champions League Group Stage games since making his debut in 2017 in addition to 177 Nike Liga games in total.



~~~~ Head to Head ~~~~

Overall
P:5 W:0 D:3 L:2

Celtic v All Spanish Opposition
P:39 W:8 D:8 L:23​

~~~~ 2022/23 Form ~~~~

All Comps
W W W D D ~ L W D W W​