UEFA CUP/Fourth round, first leg: Celtic Park has been a jaded ground of late, but adversity rallies supporters who have otherwise occupied themselves with grumbles about the team's failure to reach the first group stage of the Champions League and the possibility that the Scottish Premier League title will go to Rangers.
Defiance will be roused for the visit of Stuttgart in the first leg of the UEFA Cup fourth round tie.
The siege mentality was activated by the broken jaw that ruled out Henrik Larsson. John Hartson would, at least, have been an emphatic figure as an understudy, but he is suspended.
Martin O'Neill may be near him in the stand tonight because the manager, too, is banned following a dispute with the referee in the last round.
For any who feel that the gloom quota had not quite been filled, Magnus Hedman, the goalkeeper, injured his knee in training yesterday.
The only experienced replacement is Rab Douglas and he is in the line-up despite a thigh strain that will stop him taking kick-outs.
"The situation can't be helped," said O'Neill. "It's the course of the season. The longer you go on, the likelier it is to happen. You just hope that people will step up and perform brilliantly." Shaun Maloney (20) will partner Chris Sutton in attack and his aplomb at free-kicks will now have to be demonstrated under a greater strain than he has experienced before.
Felix Magath's Stuttgart team is in contention for a Champions League qualification place from the Bundesliga and its energy is strengthened by the craft of Krasimir Balakov, the Bulgarian dead-ball expert who retires in the summer.
"I won't change my tactics no matter who is in goal," said Magath.
Celtic have no shortage of motivation. The players would love to advance to a quarter-final place against Liverpool or Auxerre, and the board calculates that only a place in the last four can head off a serious financial decline this season.
It is not only the players who dream of a win bonus.
CELTIC (probable; 3-5-2): Douglas; Valgaeren, Balde, Laursen; Agathe, Petrov, Lennon, Thompson, Smith; Maloney, Sutton.
Guardian Service
