No Werner or Poulsen but Rangnick confident
Ralf Rangnick insists he does not need his top RB Leipzig stars to silence Celtic Park for the second time in four years.
The Bundesliga giants have travelled to Glasgow for tonight’s Europa League clash without Germany frontman Timo Werner and Danish international Yussuf Poulsen.
But that has failed to shake Rangnick’s confidence as he looks for the victory that will book their place in the knockout stages and leave Celtic’s qualification hopes in tatters.
The 60-year-old has previously tasted victory at Parkhead during his spell at Group B rivals Red Bull Salzburg. He was the Austrians’ sporting director when they claimed a 3-1 Europa League win against Ronny Deila’s side in November 2014 and Rangnick does not believe his current team’s injury problems will prevent a repeat.
Rangnick, who will ask Matheus Cunha to lead Leipzig’s attack after his goal sealed a 2-0 home win against Brendan Rodgers’ men a fortnight ago, said: “Timo has a problem with his toes and Yussuf has a back issue. They can’t play against Celtic but we still have a good team.
“We played well against Berlin in front of a huge crowd on Saturday and the players can handle that. We are confident we can achieve a win here like Salzburg did four years ago.”
Celtic will give their new £4 million light system its first run ahead of the match, but Rangnick expects his men to dazzle themselves.
“Celtic didn’t want to gift us anything last time – and that will be the same this time. They will field a better side this time but we can cope with the big atmosphere. The scenery here is very special – not only for the home team, but also for the guest team.
“The atmosphere in Celtic Park is so extraordinary because the fans support their team unconditionally.
“We saw that in the first game when Celtic had 6,000 fans. Now they have 60,000 and the atmosphere will be sensational. We will have 2,500 fans and that is incredible for an away game on a Thursday night.”