THERE will be no shortage of absent parties at Celtic Park this evening. Martin O’Neill will not be occupying his usual place, neither will Henrik Larsson. Nor will thousands of season-ticket holders as Celtic go through the formality of booking a place in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.
Such was the ruthless efficiency of Larsson and his colleagues in dismantling FBK Kaunas in Lithuania in the first leg last week, that the striker will be spared duty in the return match. The manager is also taking a back seat.
O’Neill will eschew his dugout habitat to fly to Finland to assess the contest which will supply the next round’s opponent. HJK Helsinki are trying to overturn a 3-1 deficit against MTK, of Hungary, and O’Neill feels that this is a tie with far more life in it than the one which sees the Bank of Scotland Premierleague club with an unassailable 4-0 lead.
“Making the trip is something I have been thinking about over the last four or five days and it is something I would like to do,” explained the Celtic manager, who has left behind a warning that any slackness will not be tolerated.
“The most important thing is to make sure that we are in the next round of the competition. We cannot get sloppy or stupid or do anything other than be professional.”
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Larsson, who scored the opening goal in Kaunas to register his thirtieth goal in Europe for Celtic, will not be risked against the Lithuanian champions to protect the hamstring injury he sustained in Kaunas and ensure his participation at Dunfermline Athletic on Saturday when the Premierleague season opens.
Chris Sutton, who is banned for the opening five games of the domestic campaign, will utilise a rare chance to play but John Hartson is still far from recovery from the surgery he underwent in May on a back problem that forced him to miss the Uefa Cup final.
Alan Thompson may also be kept out after picking up a booking last week. Celtic were able to send out a similar shadow side last season against Kaunas’s compatriots, FK Suduva, and win 8-1 at Celtic Park, something that Gytis Padimanskas will not forget — the Kaunas goalkeeper was Suduva’s hapless victim on that occasion, too.
John Robertson, O’Neill’s assistant, is likely to mix a team of experience and young hopefuls, such as Shaun Maloney, Stephen Crainey and Liam Miller. Whether that is enough to entice out the Celtic public is another matter. The club’s 53,000 season- ticket holders receive the inaugural Champions League tie of this term free as part of their package, but with Celtic removing any intrigue from the tie last week, it is likely that only half that number may attend and that empty seats may provide a less-than-inspiring backdrop in the east end of Glasgow.
O’Neill also admitted that his chances of recruiting a new player before the Champions League signing deadline on Thursday are minimal. “I am still tracking players but to get someone in by Thursday is impossible.”
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CELTIC (possible; 4-4-2): M Hedman — J McNamara, B Balde, J Valagaeren, S Crainey — J Smith, L Miller, S Petrov, B Petta — S Maloney, C Sutton.
FBK KAUNAS (probable; 4-5-1): G Padimanskas — D Gvildys, T Kancelskis, D Regelskis, I Zelmikas — G Barevicius, V Petrenko, G Širmelis, T Papeckys, A Gedgaudas — R Beniušis.
Referee: J Granat (Poland).