There’s a lot of chatter ahead of Celtic’s Europa League clash against Lazio on Thursday, and most of it has to do about what could happen off the pitch.
Reports that 200-300 of the Italian club’s ‘Ultras’ are travelling to Glasgow have sent a couple of alarm bells ringing, with an appeal already made to them to not do anything they might regret.
However, there’s also a game happening on the pitch, and that’s what self styled Celtic legend Massimo Donati wanted to talk about when Gazzetta dello Sport sat down with him on Wednesday.
In his eyes, there’s a good game on paper to be played, and he gave the Italian readers a bit of a breakdown of Neil Lennon’s side, knowing them well through his current job as technical coach of Kilmarnock.
He said: “It won’t be easy for Lazio. Who should they fear? James Forrest and Ryan Christie, but above all [Odsonne] Edouard. He has quality, he’s dangerous and is a pure talent. He has a great physique and a good shot. If he can find continuity, he can become devastating.”
“He used to be on the bench behind Moussa Dembélé, but he was stronger. Now he has to make that jump in quality, and he’s already liked by many top European clubs.”
One of those happens to be Lazio, with reports in Italy from earlier this year suggesting Igli Tare, the club’s director of football, had ticked Édouard’s name to help Ciro Immobile up top, and perhaps even replace him in the long-term.
We’ll have to see if that ever happens, but, for now, the striker is at Celtic and will be raring to go against the Italian side, looking to add to his already impressive 10 goal tally in 18 games.
