Celtic continue their pre-season preparations with a trip to Japan to lock horns with Yokohama F Marinos for a friendly at the Nissan Stadium on Wednesday.
The hosts, once managed by former Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou, are two thirds of the way through their 2023 J1 League campaign, while the visitors have taken part in three friendly fixtures ahead of the 2023-24 season beginning in Scotland next month.
Match preview
After putting together an impressive seven-game winning run between May 28 and July 2, Yokohama F Marinos have since failed to win their last three games in all competitions including back-to-back home defeats against Machida Zelvia and Kawasaki Frontale.
For the second successive year, Kevin Muscat's men were eliminated in the third round of the Emperor's Cup to lower-league opposition after they suffered a disappointing 4-1 loss to Machida Zelvia three days before losing 1-0 against Kawasaki Frontale in the top flight last weekend.
Defeat against the latter has seen the reigning J1 League champions surrender their place at the top of the table, with Vissel Kobe leapfrogging them to the summit on goal difference and with a game in hand.
Muscat's and co now turn their attention away from domestic duties as they prepare for challenging back-to-back friendly fixtures against two treble winners in the form of Celtic and Manchester City, facing the former on Wednesday four days before taking on the latter in the J1 League World Challenge.
Marinos' last friendly fixture against British opposition was back in July 2013 when they played host to David Moyes's Manchester United and secured a famous 3-2 victory against a relatively strong Red Devils side.
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Celtic, meanwhile, began their pre-season preparations with a 5-3 penalty-shootout win over Fraserburgh on July 1 following a 0-0 draw, before playing out another goalless stalemate with Portimonense in Portugal 11 days later.
However, Celtic managed to come out on top in their second friendly clash with Portimonense last weekend when they secured a dominant 4-1 victory courtesy of goals from Reo Hatate, Liel Abada, Ben Summers and Oh Hyeon-gyu.
Manager Brendan Rodgers hailed his side's "excellent" display in Portugal and their positive week-long spell of warm-weather training, before landing in Japan on Monday ahead of two friendly encounters in the space of four days against J1 League duo Yokohama F Marinos and Gamba Osaka.
Celtic last visited Japan back in 2006 under the tutelage of Gordan Strachan, with former Japanese star Shunsuke Nakamura playing for the Hoops in a 3-0 defeat against his former club Yokohama F Marinos.
After their tour of Japan, the reigning Scottish Premiership champions will make the trip to Dublin to face Wolverhampton Wanderers on July 29, before returning to Parkhead for James Forrest's testimonial against Athletic Bilbao three days later.
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Yokohama F Marinos have an 18-day break from competitive action after their clash with Celtic, so Muscat should have no qualms with selecting a strong side on Wednesday.
The hosts will have to cope without Yuta Koike (ACL), Ryuta Koike (knee), Ryotaro Tsunoda (metatarsal) and Hiroki Iikura (ligament) due to injury.
Brazilian forward Anthony Lopes is the Marinos' top scorer so far this season with 15 goals in 21 J1 League matches, and the 29-year-old could lead the line with support provided in attack by Yan Matheus, Takuma Nishimura and Elber.
As for Celtic, they have been rocked by the news that right-back Alistair Johnston is ruled out for at least two months after undergoing ankle surgery, and the Canadian now joins Cameron Carter-Vickers, Anthony Ralston, Albian Ajeti and Mikey Johnston in the treatment room.
The Hoops' lineup for their last match was never fully disclosed, but Rodgers is sure to give as many of his first-team squad minutes ahead of the new season, including new recruits Odin Thiago Holm and Marco Tilio.
Japanese quintet Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate, Yuki Kobayashi, Daizen Maeda and Tomoki Iwata – the latter two formerly of the Marinos – are all expected to feature in some capacity in their home country; the former of whom won multiple Player of the Year awards last season after scoring 34 goals in 50 games across all competitions.
Yokohama F Marinos possible starting lineup:
Ichimori; Matsubara, Eduardo, Kamijima, Nagato; Watanabe, Fujita; Matheus, Nishimura, Elber; Lopes
Celtic possible starting lineup:
Hart; Welsh, Kobayashi, Starfelt, Taylor; O'Riley, McGregor, Hatate; Abada, Furuhashi, Maeda
We say: Yokohama F Marinos 1-3 Celtic
Should Celtic name a strong side on Wednesday, they will be regarded as firm favourites to come out on top against a Marinos outfit who have suffered a dip in form in recent weeks.
The result is of little importance to either side, but we believe that Rodgers's Japanese stars will turn up for the special occasion to help the Hoops claim another victory on their pre-season tour.
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Oliver Thomas
