Celtic’s continental foes may just know each other too well
Group rivals closely tied but Rodgers keeps focus on progress
AFEW years back Celtic were handed a Champions League draw which pitted them against AC Milan, Barcelona and Ajax. Noting the presence of four former European club champions, Milan’s official website quickly dubbed the section Un Girone Nobile.
Nobility is not the first word that springs to mind when categorising Celtic’s latest European section. Overfamiliarity might be a more appropriate theme.
On one side of the Europa League Group B table sit Celtic and Rosenborg, two teams who know each other like an old married couple and who will face each other for the third time this season on Thursday night.
On the other are Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig, two clubs linked by a common benefactor who will face each other for the very first time when the competition opens this Thursday.
Reacting to the draw, Red Bull chief executive Dietrich Mateschitz played down any talk of a conflict of interest, stating: ‘May the better team win. I am totally happy about this draw. It will be good for sports and entertainment. It’s a great story for everyone in our family and it will be interesting and fun.’
It was in 2005 that Mateschitz purchased SV Austria Salzburg and, a few months later, he also took ownership of the American club Metrostars, who were subsequently rebranded the New York Red Bulls.
The energy drinks firm’s wings took flight across the Atlantic Ocean to South America with the founding of Red Bull Brasil in 2007 and that was followed by the association with German football two years later.
The licence of lower-league SSV Markanstadt was purchased by Mateschitz and the club renamed RasenBallsport Leipzig, an attempt to at once associate and distinguish the club from the Red Bull stable.
A series of transfers between the clubs raised hackles in Austria as a perception grew that Salzburg were being used as a feeder club for the upwardlymobile German outfit. The discord peaked in season 2016-17 when four players were transferred from Salzburg to Leipzig for a total of £35million, including star midfielder Naby Keita, now of Liverpool. Austrian international defender Martin Hinteregger rejected a move between the clubs and spoke out, saying: ‘The way in which Leipzig is destroying Salzburg is not nice to see. I find it a shame that we have two different clubs yet everything is directed towards Leipzig. ‘Everything is for their benefit, while Salzburg are ignored. The Leipziger simply take what they need. Salzburg are never able to build a real team.’
Matters came to a head when both qualified for the Champions League at the end of that campaign.
UEFA had been watching and launched an investigation that required both clubs to supply paperwork proving they were not in breach of regulations set up to preserve the integrity of the competition.
Ruling in the clubs’ favour, UEFA stated that ‘several important governance and structural changes’ had taken place at both institutions to fall into line with the association’s rules on dual ownership.
Everyone has vowed to play fair and it is true that the flow of players between the clubs has since been stemmed. While no one doubts the
two teams will tear into each other without fear or favour on Thursday, the narrative will inevitably change as the group reaches its decisive phase.
Celtic have voiced no public concerns but manager Brendan Rodgers is coy on the issue.
‘I tend not to overthink it so much,’ said Rodgers (left). ‘Your job is to go and face whoever you are playing in the game. If you look after yourself and do your job then, hopefully, that doesn’t come into it.
‘But, yeah, two different stories with the same backers. Time will tell, eh?’
Celtic can go a long way towards making the issue academic by striking another blow against Rosenborg this week.
The Scottish champions have seen off the Norwegians in the past two Champions League qualifying campaigns, most recently when a 3-1 home victory allowed them to ease through a goalless draw in Trondheim on August 1.
‘With Rosenborg, we know their style, continued Rodgers. ‘That doesn’t change. It’s actually a nice city to go to, to be fair. Nice stadium, but of course it’s a different context. At least you are not going into the unknown — we know what to expect so we just deal with it.
‘They’ve won nearly all their games since we played them so they are a good side. Top side over there in Norway and have some good players. We saw that in the recent games. It was unstable there for a while with the manager leaving but, of course, winning games can always change that.’
A year earlier, Celtic squeezed past Rosenborg by the narrowest of margins when an away goal from James Forrest settled the tie in the second leg.
Then, as indeed when Birger Meling struck the opener at Parkhead in July, there were signs that the Scandinavians were just that little bit fitter, owing to the advanced stage of their domestic campaign.
Two different stories with the same backers. Time will tell, eh?
Now 14 games deep into competitive action, Celtic should be demonstrably sharper.
‘That certainly will help us if you think about how early we would normally play them,’ admits Rodgers. ‘To be at least a couple of months down the line will hopefully work in our favour.’
Having knocked out Rosenborg, Celtic were themselves demoted to UEFA’s second-tier tournament after failing to overcome Greek champions AEK Athens in the play-off round.
Yet in a sense the end game for Rodgers and his players has not changed. Faced with the might of Bayern Munich and PSG in last year’s Champions League, the goal was to beat Anderlecht to third spot and parachute into the Europa League knock-out stages.
This time, they must finish ahead of at least one Red Bull club to reach the same point.
‘The competition itself deserves respect,’ says Rodgers. ‘Every team would love to be in the Champions League but this year we aren’t in it.
‘European football is very important for this club and we are still in a really prestigious competition.
‘Our objective will again be to have European football after Christmas. Good group, tough games, but still exciting games and games the supporters should look forward to.
‘There is certainly an opportunity there, though it is still tough in the modern climate. We play Leipzig who reached the quarter-final last year. They beat Zenit (St Petersburg) who of course knocked us out.
‘Both those Red Bulls have been on a journey those last number of years, so they will be tough games in addition to Rosenborg. The level of course isn’t quite the same as Bayern Munich but it doesn’t make these teams any less formidable an opponent.’
Rosenborg’s two most accomplished players against Celtic were midfielder Mike Jensen and full-back Meling.
While Jensen revelled in his head-to-head with Scott Brown in the centre of the pitch, Meling not only scored the goal that opened up the tie at Parkhead but caught the eye enough to have some Celtic fans wondering whether they might be watching a potential successor to Kieran Tierney — who at that stage had been the subject of transfer interest from Everton.
If any additional scouting is needed then Celtic can call on their own very personal links to Norwegian football. Rodgers’ successor Ronny Deila is currently managing Valerenga, whom Rosenborg face in the Eliteserien today.
‘Ronny’s always there if we need,’ added Rodgers. ‘I spoke to him when I first came in here and he visited Parkhead for one of the games.
‘If I think there is any need, or there’s a drastic change in anything, we would do that.
‘He’s a friend of the club and a friend of Celtic, but in fairness we have a lot of things covered.’