Celtic kick off their Champions League campaign on Tuesday evening when they travel to face Feyenoord, live on talkSPORT 2.
The Scottish giants secured their place in UEFA’s premier competition by winning the championship for the second successive campaign last season.
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Triple-winning manager Ange Postecoglou has since joined Tottenham, with Brendan Rodgers returning to lead his side in Europe.
And their first challenge comes against the Dutch champions who have scored 17 goals in their last three Eredivisie games.
Feyenoord are top seeds in Group E, with Celtic facing a tough challenge after also being drawn alongside Atletico Madrid and Lazio.
Feyenoord vs Celtic: talkSPORT coverage
This Group E clash of the Champions League will take place on Tuesday September 19.
Kick-off at Stadion Feijenoord is scheduled for 8pm UK time.
talkSPORT 2 will cover all the action live.
Comments will come from Ian Danter and former Chelsea defender Scott Minto.
To connect to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 via the website, click HERE for live streaming.
You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, via your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
The match will also be broadcast live on TNT Sports 1.
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Feyenoord vs Celtic: team news
Feyenoord goalkeeper Justin Bijlow will miss his first Champions League match after picking up an injury.
Lutsharel Geertruisa and Ayase Ueda are also doubtful for the match.
Striker Santiago Gimenez is suspended for the Dutch team’s first two matches in Europe and will therefore not be available to lead the line.
As for Celtic, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Maik Nawrocki are expected to miss out while on-loan Liverpool defender Nat Phillips will undergo a late fitness test.
Phillips suffered a knock this weekend against Dundee and is now a doubt.
Liel Abada was also excluded from this Group E clash.
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Feyenoord vs Celtic: What was said?
Ahead of Celtic’s group stage opener, manager Rodgers expects a ‘brilliant opportunity’.
He said: “It’s a really exciting time. I know there can always be a bit of apprehension going into the Champions League and this level, but for me there is nothing but excitement.
“This is a brilliant opportunity for us to play in the elite competition of European club football.
“We are going onto real historic ground. We just had some really good wins in different ways.
“We will recover well, we will implement our plan and we will be a team to achieve a result.
“We are really going to enjoy the Champions League. Look, they are the Dutch champions so they will be a very good team.
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Feyenoord vs Celtic: Match Facts
- James Forrest has made 23 appearances for Celtic in the UEFA Champions League, having featured in five different editions of the competition for the club. If he plays against Feyenoord, he will become the Scottish player with the second most UEFA Champions League appearances for Celtic, behind Scott Brown (34).
- In last season’s UEFA Europa League, Feyenoord (104) were one of only three teams to record over 100 high turnovers, along with Roma (120) and Manchester United (112). Indeed, runners-up Roma (69) were the only team to win possession in the final third more often than Feyenoord (64).
- This will be Brendan Rodgers’ first match as coach in the UEFA Champions League since December 2017 (0-1 against Anderlecht), during his first spell with current club Celtic. Since his first victory in the competition with Liverpool in September 2014 (2-1 against Ludogorets), he has only recorded one victory in 17 matches (5 draws, 11 defeats).
- Celtic have lost 58.3% of their UEFA Champions League matches (42/72), the highest ratio of any team having played at least 50 matches in the competition.
- Feyenoord have never won their first UEFA Champions League match (D3 L2), having gone unbeaten in their eight opening European Cup matches between 1961-62 and 1984-85 (W6 , 2 draws).
- Celtic have won just one of their last 21 UEFA Champions League matches (D5 L15) and have not progressed beyond the group stage since 2012-13.
- After a run of eight consecutive defeats in the UEFA Champions League between 2002 and 2017, Feyenoord won their last match in the competition 2-1 against Napoli in December 2017.
- This is only Feyenoord’s sixth appearance in the UEFA Champions League, and the first since the 2017-18 campaign. They have only made it past the first group stage once before (1999-00).
- Celtic have lost three of their last four away matches against Dutch sides in all European competitions (D1), their last victory coming against Ajax in August 2001 (3-1 in UEFA Champions qualifying). League).
- The only previous meeting between Feyenoord and Celtic was in the 1970 European Cup final, with Feyenoord winning 2-1 to become the first Dutch team to lift the trophy.
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