LEIPZIG director has tried to quell the suggestion there is going to be a Red Bull carve up to stop Celtic from reaching the next round of the Europa League.

Salzburg brushed aside their Red Bull pals Leipzig in the first game but many bookies have put Leipzig as favourites for the return leg.

A Leipzig win against Salzburg would put both sides in the driving seat to qualify for the knock out stages.

Given the ownership of both clubs, it’s a credible thing to cross anyone’s mind.

However, if you ask Leipzig Director Oliver Mintzlaff he is making every effort to convince people there will be no ‘carve up’ when it comes to the two sides meeting on Thursday night.

“Leipzig and Salzburg have been independent clubs for a few years now.” he told SunSport.

“In the first leg, it was obvious that both teams wanted to win. This will also be the case in the second leg. It is a high pressure match that will be extremely difficult for us because Salzburg are a quality team.

“In the first leg, it really annoyed me that Salzburg fans insulted Ralf Rangnick. I cannot accept this.

“Even though both clubs are independent and Ralf Rangnick hasn’t been responsible for Salzburg since 2015, he was the one who created the structures at Salzburg.

“He made sure they signed and produced young players instead of veteran professionals. That’s created a lot of money for Salzburg.”

Regardless of what’s going on in that game, Celtic must ensure they give themselves the best possible chance of getting to the next round by getting an away win in the competition. This will be the bhoys last chance to get three points on the road after failing in their last two.

Celtic notoriously don’t travel well and haven’t for many years. It will take the bhoys giving a big effort to make sure of a win that would give them 9 points in the group going into the final game at home against Salzburg.

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