USA Tour 2024: Celtic Scout Report | OneFootball

A look at City’s first opponents ahead of our pre-season tour of the United States of America.

Pep Guardiola’s men face the Scottish champions on Tuesday 23 July at Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill, with kick-off set for 00:30 (UK) / 19:30 (EDT).

Tickets are available to purchase here, while the match will also be shown live around the world on CITY+.

Ahead of City’s return to the USA, we take a quick look at what Celtic will have in store, including their key players and historic successes.

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History

Celtic boast the incredible distinction of being one of only five teams in world football to have won over 100 trophies during their history.

Since forming in 1887, they've picked up 118 pieces of silverware, with 54 league titles and 63 domestic cups during that time.

Their crowning moment, however, came in 1967\, when Celtic became the first British side to win the European Cup, doing so by beating Inter Milan 2-1.

Incredibly, they have won the exact same amount of trophies as their rivals, Rangers!

Manager: Brendan Rodgers

A familiar face to City fans, Rodgers is currently enjoying his second spell at Celtic Park having been reappointed in June 2023.

Winning back-to-back trebles during his first stint between 2016 and 2019, the 51-year-old moved to Leicester City and guided the Foxes to their first-ever FA Cup triumph in 2021.

Achieving back-to-back fifth placed finishes in his first two seasons at the King Power Stadium and eighth in his third, the Foxes’ downturn in form saw him leave the Club in April 2023, two months before his return to Celtic.

Rodgers also enjoyed success at Swansea City, helping them become the first Welsh side to reach the Premier League in 2011, while his Liverpool outfit were involved in a thrilling title race with City in 2013/14.

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Key players

Celtic played 50 competitive matches last season and Kyogo Furuhashi was the only one to feature in all of them.

The diminutive Japanese forward joined the club from Vissel Kobe in 2021 and has been crucial to their success ever since, finishing the campaign as their joint leading scorer.

While he wasn’t able to match his tally of 34 goals from 2022/23, Furuhashi’s intelligent movement, low centre of gravity and incredible technical ability have made him one of Scottish football’s most exciting attackers.

Only Matt O’Riley was able to equal Furuhashi’s goal tally in all competitions last season, but the midfielder’s 18 league strikes were the most for Brendan Rodgers’ side.

Born in London but a Denmark international, the 23-year-old’s quality on the ball and energy off it earned him a spot in the PFA Scottish Premiership Team of the Season alongside three of his Celtic team-mates.

Another player recognised in that XI was Callum McGregor, who captained Brendan Rodgers’ side to a domestic double.

A one-club man, the midfielder has made over 450 senior appearances for Celtic since first breaking into the side a decade ago.

He was also part of the Scotland team to compete at this summer’s European Championships.

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Links to City

City and Celtic share a rich history, with several players having plied their trade for both sides over the years.

The most well-known is perhaps Joe Hart, who announced his retirement this summer after finishing his storied career at Celtic Park.

The goalkeeper made 153 appearances as Celtic’s number one across three seasons, winning seven major honours in the process.

He's most well known for his stint at City though, where he featured 348 times between 2006 and 2018.

A four-time Premier League Golden Glove winner, Hart rightly goes down as a Club legend at the Etihad Stadium.

Other notable names to have featured for both City and Celtic include Kolo Toure, Eyal Berkovic, Craig Bellamy and Mick McCarthy.

Previous meetings

This summer’s showdown will be just the fourth time City and Celtic have met, with the only two competitive fixtures coming during the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League group stages.

In Pep Guardiola’s first season at the Etihad Stadium, both clashes ended in stalemate, with the first a thrilling 3-3 draw at Celtic Park in September 2016.

City came from behind on three separate occasions, with Fernandhino, Raheem Sterling and Nolito all on target in Glasgow.

The reverse fixture in December 2016, meanwhile, ended 1-1 with Kelechi Iheanacho drawing the hosts level after an early strike from Patrick Roberts.

But the two sides first faced each other back in 2009, when Gareth Barry and Craig Bellamy helped City to a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium.

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2023/24 performance

Celtic claimed a third successive league title last season and successfully defended the Scottish Cup to claim a domestic double.

Recovering from back-to-back defeats in December, Brendan Rodgers’ side lost just once in the league in the new year to beat Rangers to top spot by eight points.

Adam Idah’s late strike also earned a 1-0 win over their rivals in the Cup final at Hampden Park.

On a European front, Celtic reached the group stages of the Champions League but finished bottom of a group containing Feyenoord, Lazio and Atletico Madrid.