Key Battles

BIRGER MELING v JAMES FORREST

FORMER Middlesbrough kid Birger Meling will be handed the hardest job for Rosenborg tonight as the left-back attempts to shackle red-hot James Forrest.

The Hoops winger scored the winner in Trondheim last season, although it’s his recent form – 12 goals and five assists in his last 11 starts for club and country – which makes him the dangerman.

But Meling comes with his own threat having hit the opener in his side’s Parkhead defeat in July.

MIKE JENSEN v RYAN CHRISTIE

ROSENBORG skipper and Player of the Year Mike Jensen will attempt to dictate the tempo of the game in Norway having fired his seventh goal of the season against Salzburg.

But Celtic starlet Ryan Christie – who has gone from bit-part player to leading man in the space of a month – will have something to say about that.

The 23-year-old’s blistering form has seen him score four goals in six games for the Hoops and play a key role in Scotland’s wins.

SAMUEL ADEGBENRO v MIKAEL LUSTIG

WITH Nicklas Bendtner more of a menace to taxi drivers than defenders nowadays, Samuel Adegbenro is Rosenborg’s biggest attacking threat.

The Nigeria winger, who scored three goals to KO Ajax last year, is firing on all cylinders after returning from long-term injury.

He’ll feel he can get the better of Mikael Lustig whose form has been up and down in Europe but the right-back will be determined to be at his best in his bid to win a new Hoops deal.