Keeper Peter Gulacsi reckons RB Leipzig will struggle to “survive” at Parkhead when they face Celtic in the Champions League.
But the Hungarian veteran is determined to wipe out his bad memories of his last trip there. And the Germans look set to be without star man Xavi Simons. Celtic face the Bundesliga side next in what will be their fourth game in the group after they gained a creditable draw with Atalanta in Italy to leave them in 20th place in the table.
But the German side have endured a nightmare start to their campaign after a loss to Liverpool this week meant they have now suffered three defeats and sit joint bottom of the table. They now must win in Glasgow to have a realistic chance of going through, but they have serious injury problems.
Dutch superkid Simons is a major doubt for Parkhead after suffering an ankle injury last night and they are also without key players Xaver Schlager, David Raum and Nicolas Seiwald. Gulacsi’s last trip to Parkhead saw him suffer an ACL injury that kept him out for a year in a 3-1 win two years ago.
And the 34-year-old warned his teammates what to expect in Glasgow. He said: “It won’t be easy at Celtic. We know what the atmosphere is like there.
“It’s difficult for an away team to survive there. But our goal is to get the three points in two weeks. We didn’t get off to a good start. We had three difficult opponents, but if you look at the games, we could certainly have taken a few points.”
And his RB Leipzig skipper and countryman Will Orban admits they are struggling for form ahead of their trip to Glasgow.
He said: “At the moment we’re lacking consistency in both penalty areas and that cost us the win against a top team like Liverpool.
“In attack, not only was there a lack of penetration, but also a lack of self-confidence. The good thing is that you still have five games left. You can still achieve anything.
“It’s starting to get a bit unlikely for direct qualification. But we can still get into the play-offs – and that’s what we want to achieve. Of course we’re not satisfied with the three defeats. But we’re currently lacking a little something to beat the top opponents.”