Celtic will host FC Copenhagen in the second leg of the Round of 16 tie on Thursday. Ahead of the match Copenhagen has sent a warning to the the Hoops.
Copenhagen boss Stale Solbakken is confident in his squad heading into the second leg of the Europa League Round of 16 tie with Celtic. His confidence is not unfounded. After being down 0-1 to the Hoops in the first leg in Copenhagen, his team roared back to even up the score and end the match with a draw.
Celtic will need to perform at one of their highest levels in order to defeat FC Copenhagen, even at Parkhead when they host on Thursday. However, Celtic have it in them to absolutely dominate Copenhagen if they just play their brand of football.
Despite having just sold their striker, and playing in one of the most inhospitable stadiums in Europe, Stale Solbakken felt confident enough to send a shot across the bow to his Scottish foes.
Speaking at a press conference at Paradise ahead of the match and transcribed by SportsMole, Stale Solbakken had this to say:
"“The odds have crept a little bit more to Celtic’s side after their away goal.“That’s natural but we know we have more or less scored at away grounds this season.“Not many but we have scored. It’s also a bit of dilemma to Celtic – what do they do if it’s still quite even?“And even if they score first then we score the next so there’s also a little bit of psychology in it.“We are satisfied with what we have done in Europe this season, coming through the qualification group stages.“We don’t have any priority, we just have to win every game.”"
The Copenhagen boss is not necessarily wrong. His side has the ability to score goals, and his entire squad is relatively healthy and is ready to go on Thursday. The Hoops cannot let sloppy play interfere with getting through to the next round, especially if they find themselves up early.
A complete, and dominant match for the Hoops would go a long way in helping build momentum into the next round, and domestically as well as they are set to face Rangers in the next coming weeks.