VfB Stuttgart and Celtic meet again on Thursday for the second leg of their UEFA Europa League knockout round play-off tie.
Celtic make the trip to Germany needing to score at least three times to stay in the competition, having been beaten 4-1 in the first leg at Celtic Park. Martin O’Neill’s team also head into the return fixture on the back of a tough 2-1 home loss to Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership.
Celtic team news
The visitors are still missing several players through injury, including centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers, right-back Alistair Johnston, winger Jota, defender Adam Montgomery, midfielder Arne Engels and youngster Callum Osmand, all of whom have been listed as unavailable in recent updates around the tie.
After the heavy first-leg defeat, O’Neill admitted his side had largely caused their own problems, saying Celtic were “masters of their own downfall” and had allowed “very poor” and “soft” goals, while also accepting that mounting a comeback would be very difficult against a Stuttgart team he feels has the quality to go on and win the tournament.
Earlier in February, O’Neill’s team had shown improved domestic form with a run of league wins to stay in contention at the top of the Scottish Premiership, but the manner of the European defeat and the subsequent slip against Hibs have put them under pressure.
Celtic predicted lineup
Possible Celtic starting XI: Schmeichel; Araujo, Trusty, Scales, Tierney; McGregor, Bernardo; Maeda, Nygren, Tounekti; Cvancara
When will the match kick off?
The match will kick off at 5:45pm BST on Thursday.
How to watch VFB Stuttgart vs Celtic?
In the UK, supporters can watch VfB Stuttgart vs Celtic live on TNT Sports 2, with live streaming available on Discovery+ for viewers who have the TNT Sports package.
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