Unbeaten in their last three Champions League fixtures, Celtic will test their European mettle in a tough away assignment at Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday evening.
The Bhoys sit three places and one point above their Croatian hosts in the 36-team UCL table, with both sides currently on course to enter the playoffs via the unseeded route.
Match preview
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Discounting the qualifying rounds - which Celtic are all too familiar with - Tuesday's visitors could now achieve something that no Bhoys team has managed since 1986, going unbeaten in four successive matches in Europe's premier competition.
Brendan Rodgers has led his side to a respectable five points from the last nine on offer in the league phase, masterminding a statement 3-1 home win over German giants RB Leipzig either side of a goalless draw with Atalanta BC and 1-1 stalemate with Club Brugge on matchday five.
Eight points from five games so far sees Celtic reside in 20th spot in the UCL table, which would provide access to the knockout round playoffs as an unseeded team, and such is the congested nature of the table that they are only two points off the coveted top eight.
Domestically, the reigning Scottish Premiership champions continue to sweep aside foes left, right and centre, most recently easing to a 3-0 triumph over Hibernian on Saturday to maintain their unassailable advantage at the top of the standings.
Since October's humiliating 7-1 slaughter at the hands of Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, Celtic have strung together an unbeaten 13-match run across all competitions, but not since trumping Anderlecht 3-0 in 2017 have they won a UCL league/group phase game on the road.
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Dinamo Zagreb and Celtic can empathise when it comes to being put to the sword by Dortmund in the Champions League, although the Blues' defeat to the 2023-24 runners-up on matchday five was not so chastening.
Nenad Bjelica's side succumbed to a 3-0 home reverse thanks to efforts from Jamie Gittens, Ramy Bensebaini and Serhou Guirassy, just their second loss of the current tournament following their infamous 9-2 annihilation at the hands of Dortmund's Bundesliga foes Bayern Munich on matchday one.
Sandwiched in between their two losses to the German powerhouses is a pleasing set of European results - wins over Red Bull Salzburg and Slovan Bratislava and a stalemate with Monaco - putting them just inside the playoff places with seven points to their name.
However, Dinamo Zagreb's domestic powers are also failing them at this juncture; a 1-1 draw with Slaven Koprivnica on Friday stretched their winless run in the Croatian top flight to four matches, and their overall run without success to five games in all tournaments.
A lack of penalty-box potency appears to be the root of their issues - the Blues have netted just once in their last four games - and there is nothing to split Dinamo Zagreb and Celtic on the head-to-head column; both sides have beaten the other three times apiece.
Team News
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As Celtic did not sustain any fresh fitness woes in the beating of Hibernian, only Odin Thiago Holm - who is still working his way back from a calf injury - should be absent through injury for Rodgers's side on Tuesday.
Nicolas Kuhn was withdrawn at half time in the success over Hibernian, but Rodgers confirmed that his premature change was for tactical reasons, and he should retain his place up front with Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda.
The latter has already netted three times in the Champions League for Celtic this season; no Bhoys player since Joseph Craig in 1977-78 has managed to score four times in a single edition of Europe's premier tournament.
As for hosts Dinamo Zagreb, their attacking endeavours have been harmed by an injury to experienced striker Bruno Petkovic, who is experiencing adductor pain and may not be able to lead the line in Tuesday's tie.
Bjelica has alleged that he only has 14 fit players for Tuesday's game - Raul Torrente (muscle), Juan Cordoba (knee), Petar Sucic (foot) and Josip Misic (calf) are also known to be missing - but the Blues still possess a secret weapon in the form of winger Marko Pjaca.
The 29-year-old has scored three goals against Celtic in the past, all of which came in one match in December 2014, when he became the youngest player in Dinamo Zagreb history to score a European hat-trick at just 19 years old.
Dinamo Zagreb possible starting lineup:
Zagorac; Ristovski, Theophile-Catherine, Bernauer, Pierre-Gabriel; Ademi, Pavic; Mbuku, Baturina, Pjaca; Kulenovic
Celtic possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Trusty, Valle; Bernardo, McGregor, Hatate; Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda
We say: Dinamo Zagreb 1-1 Celtic
On paper, a Dinamo Zagreb side who have failed to score in three of their last four games meeting a Celtic outfit who have kept clean sheets in each of their last three seemingly spells success and a shut-out for the Scottish champions.
However, the Croatian giants still represent a step-up in quality for Rodgers's team, who may have to be content with just the one point again, albeit a historic one as they go unbeaten in four UCL games for the first time under the competition's current name.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
