Celtic handed advantage for Bayer Leverkusen game

Celtic will have a mountain to climb when they face Bundesliga giants, Bayer Leverkusen away in Germany. Ange Postecoglou’s side lost the reverse fixture 4-0 at Parkhead, which goes on to show the magnitude of the task awaiting them. But it does appear that the Hoops might have an advantage when they take on the German side the second time around in this season’s Europa League group stage.

Now, Celtic are already guaranteed to play European football beyond the Europa League group stage this season. Whether it is still in the competition or the Europa Conference League remains to be seen.

In that regard, the upcoming game against Bayer Leverkusen could prove to be very important. And coming out of it with a result will be ideal for Postecoglou’s side.

Amid all this, Bayer Leverkusen appear to be going through their fair share of problems. As reported by Kicker, most recently, they had to do without eight of their players due to injury. Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Mitchel Bakker, Charles Aranguiz, Julian Baumgartlinger, Florian Wirtz, Karim Bellarabi, Lucas Alario and Patrik Schick were the ones missing action.

Bayer Leverkusen have had their injury issues before Celtic game

With the international break going on, it is very possible that a few of those players will be available when the Bundesliga giants face Celtic in the Europa League later this month.

But even then, the situation is far from ideal for them at the moment. And it remains to be seen if Celtic can get something out of the away game. It is safe to say that it will be very difficult to do so but nothing is impossible in football.

At the end of the day, Celtic might end up needing a result on the occasion to keep their knockout stage hopes alive. If Real Betis win against Ferencvaros and Postecoglou’s side lose against Bayer Leverkusen, it will become impossible for the Hoops to finish above third in the group.