Teams Up – Viljami Sinisalo‘s debut, Murray starts | OneFootball

Viljami Sinisalo makes his competitive debut for Celtic this afternoon as the Scottish Cup holders welcome Barry Robson’s Raith Rovers to Celtic Park for the 5th round tie.

11th August 2024 Easter Road, Scottish Premiership, Hibernian versus Celtic – Viljami Sinisalo of Celtic. ActionPlus Vagelis Georgariou

Brendan Rodgers has made x changes to the side that started against Dundee in midweek as the Celtic manager guides his squad through an intense run of fixtures with the huge challenge of Bayern Munich in the Champions League at Celtic Park on Wednesday night very much in his thoughts.

The debut Bhoy in the Celtic goals will have a back four of Anthony Ralston, Dane Murray, Liam Scales and Jeffrey Schlupp in front of him. It’s also a full debut for Jeffrey who joined the club late on Monday night on loan from Crystal Palace and came off the bench alongside Johnny Kenny for the last 20 minutes of the 6-0 win over Dundee.

The midfield today sees Both Paulo Bernardo and Luke McCowan coming back into the Celtic starting XI alongside captain Callum McGregor who will stay only as long as the result is in doubt.

Daizen Maeda celebrates scoring Celtic’s third goal during the match between Celtic and Dundee at Celtic Park on February 05, 2025 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Daizen Maeda frustratingly is suspended for the Champions League match on Wednesday so will instead focus on padding the line as centre forward this afternoon.The Japanese forward is in unstoppable form and is now Celtic’s top scorer.

Nicolas Khunwill be looking for more goals for the club this afternoon and Yang has another opportunity to prove his worth in the side.

Celtic’s bench is very strong with Bain, Nawrocki Taylor, Hatate, Engels, Jota, Kenny and Idah.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND – FEBRUARY 05: Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic, looks on prior to during the William Hill Premiership match between Celtic FC and Dundee FC at Celtic Park on February 05, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Kick-off is fast approaching at 5.30pm as the area around Celtic Park gets busier. Raith Rovers will be backed by around 3000 supporters who will be making a day of it against the top team in the country.

Celtic will want to put this one to bed early doors to preserve legs for Wednesday.

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