Pre-season tournament will be tough French test
● Rangers and Celtic face matches against Lyon and Nice as preparations for new campaign are stepped up a notch
Celtic and Rangers flew out to France yesterday to continue their preparations for the new campaign at a pre-season tournament in Lyon.
The duo will compete for the Veolia Trophy, a four-team event also featuring Ligue 1 sides Olympique Lyonnais and OGC Nice, although the Glasgow rivals will not face each other as teams from the same country are kept apart.
The opening fixtures tomorrow will see Neil Lennon’s nine-in-a-row champions kick-off the competition against Nice at 5.15pm, before their Ibrox counterparts take on Lyon at 7.45pm.
The second and final round of fixtures takes place on Saturday evening with Steven Gerrard’s side facing Nice at 5.15pm before Celtic face Lyon at 7.45pm, a match that will see former Parkhead striker Moussa Dembele face his old club for the first time since leaving Glasgow in a £20 million move in August 2018.
The games will take place at the Groupama Stadium, home of Lyon, and will be played in front of a small crowd, with as many as 5,000 fans allowed into the ground after the French government relaxed its Covid-19 restrictions.
However, fans of Celtic and Rangers will not be able to attend as Lyon are only allowing club members to purchase tickets and there will be strict rules to ensure other supporters are not in attendance.
The tournament will be the first opportunity for Celtic and Rangers fans to watch their team on screen since the Covid-19 pandemic ended the 2019-20 season in March, with Veolia Trophy matches to be broadcast live in the UK by Premier Sports.
Celtic will stay in France next week and take on current Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-germain at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday 21 July in an additional friendly match that will also be broadcast on Premier Sports.
Rangers return to Scotland to face fellow Premiership side Motherwell at Ibrox on Wednesday 22 July before welcoming English League One champions Coventry City on Saturday 25 July. Again, these matches will be broadcast on Premier Sports.
The Glasgow sides will use the matches to prepare for the start of the 2020-21 Premiership season as Celtic begin their bid for a historic tenth league title in a row with a home match on 2 August against Hamilton, while Rangers travel to Pittodrie to take on Aberdeen on 1 August.