Celtic sent blunt message by former Feyenoord player

Celtic will be kicking off their 2023/24 Champions League group stage campaign with a game against Feyenoord away at De Kuip. It will not be an easy task for the Hoops at all, as they have made an inconsistent start to the campaign and it is hard to predict which version of the Hoops will turn up in the Netherlands next week.

On top of that, they continue to deal with injuries to key players. Cameron Carter-Vickers, Maik Nawrocki and Stephen Welsh are out for the foreseeable future. And now, Liel Abada has joined them on the sidelines and might not even play again this year.

Thus, one would have to consider Feyenoord as the favourites next week even though they have not made a great start themselves. In fact, it looks like the Dutch media is not giving much of a chance to the Hoops at all.

As reported by Football Scotland, former Feyenoord star Karim El Ahmadi told ESPN:

"“Against Celtic at home, Feyenoord will have the ball a lot. Celtic just won’t have the ball.“If you then put Minteh or Paixão in the striker, they will not get a lot of space. At home against Celtic you may have to look for a Stengs as a false striker. You could play without a striker.”"

Celtic sent blunt message by former Feyenoord player

Of course, these comments are in reference to Feyenoord’s own problems at the moment. The Dutch club have quite a few players unavailable heading into the Champions League opener against Celtic.

But it looks like some of their former players are not particularly concerned about that, or the challenge that Celtic will pose on the day. One can only hope that the Hoops use these comments as motivation.

If Celtic are to have any chance to go through to the last 16, they will need to make sure that they take something out of the away games. Even a draw away at De Kuip. Of course, that is easier said than done.

The other two teams in their group are Atletico Madrid and Lazio, arguably tougher opposition than Feyenoord. Interestingly, the Rangers managed to get a 2-2 draw away at De Kuip a few years back.