Celtic face a tough trip to Salzburg as they play last season’s semifinalists RB Salzburg, and Brendan Rodgers would wish this game had been played at a later date.
Since they initially qualified for a European competition in the 2009/2010 season, Salzburg have been regulars at European competitions, making it to the group stages on 8 occasions since that inaugural season.
They reached the semifinals last season only to be beaten by Olympique Marseille. This season they missed out on qualifying for the Champions League only on goal difference, and that goes to show you how good this Austrians are.
As a matter of fact, Salzburg are unbeaten in their last 16 competitive games and 14 of those matches have ended in wins for them. So the task facing Celtic in this game is a huge one.
There seems to be a minor crisis of confidence at Celtic Park at the moment after they dominated the Scottish game over the past two seasons.
They may have beaten Rosenborg by a lone goal at home in their first Europa League group games, but they are currently struggling for goals and wins, and they currently lie on the 5th position on the Scottish Premier League table.
Their main problem this season is how poor they are when they play away from home. They have played 8th away games in all competitions this season, and they have won just two of those matches. In that period of time, they have been beaten by Hearts, AEK, and Kilmarnock. They have also failed to win any of their last 12 away games in the Europa League, a run which stretches back to 2011.
These two sides meet in the 2014/15 Europa League group stage, with Red Bull Salzburg winning one and drawing one, scoring five goals and conceding three in the process.
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