Celtic return home this weekend as they face Middlesbrough in their first pre-season friendly at Parkhead.
Martin O’Neill’s side will take on the English Championship club this Saturday (18 July) as they continue to ramp up their preparations for the new Scottish Premiership season.
So far, Celtic have played bounce matches against Shelbourne and Sporting CP in their pre-season schedule.
They drew 1-1 with the Irish side in Dublin last week, with a late Shin Yamada penalty rescuing the draw.
The squad then flew to Portugal for a warm-weather training camp before taking on Sporting CP at the Estádio Algarve. The Hoops were beaten 4-1, with new signing Camilo Duran netting on his debut five minutes after coming off the bench.
Attention now turns to Saturday’s fixture. This is Middlesbrough’s first friendly of the season, so they will just be getting up to speed with the intensity of a pre-season test.
KO Time
The action gets underway at 3pm UK time.
Where to Watch
The match has not been picked up by any UK TV broadcaster. Instead, it will be available to stream for all Celtic Player subscribers.
Predixted XI
Viljami Sinisalo, Colby Donovan, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Dane Murray, Liam Scales, Callum McGregor (C), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arne Engels, Luke McCowan, James Forrest, Camilo Duran.
Final Notes
After getting quickly off the mark, O’Neill may hand Camilo Duran his first start in green and white.
It would allow the Colombian to show the home support what he can bring from the start of the match.
There will likely be several substitutions to allow fringe and youth players the opportunity to gain valuable experience in the first-team environment.
After this weekend’s match, the Hoops are back in action on Saturday, 25 July, where they host Italian giants AC Milan.
That will be their final pre-season friendly before the competitive action gets underway a week later.
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