Celtic face Feyenoord this evening in their opening match of the Champions League campaign.
The game against Brendan Rodgers’ side is being seen as huge in the Netherlands, and the build up to the tie has matched that. There’s been articles about the history between the Dutch club and Celtic, and all kinds of claims about how Rodgers is getting on since his return to Glasgow.
There’s some confidence around Feyenoord and a belief they’re favourites, partly due to their brilliant goalscoring form in the Eredivisie recently. Celtic will have a big job on their hands to stop a team who have scored 17 goals over their past three league matches.
As always with Feyenoord, there’s been a lot of coverage dealing with what the club’s fans have planned for before the match and during it. There’s good relations with Celtic supporters, so there’s nothing worrying thought to be on the way, and AD even state De Kuip’s regulars are going to calm their ‘deep-seated hatred’ of UEFA.
The club feel they’ve been treated unfairly in recent years by what is dubbed the ‘UEFA Mafia’, but they’ve shelved plans to boo the Champions League anthem.
Dutch newspaper AD explain: ‘Days ago, supporters made the request not to whistle during the Champions League anthem, which will blare through the speakers of De Kuip for the first time in six years tonight just before nine o’clock. For a moment, the pride in the fact that Feyenoord is finally back among the crème de la crème of Europe takes precedence over the deep-seated hatred of UEFA.’
Will all the supporters abide with that ahead of the Celtic match? There’s not long to wait to find out.
