Celtic’s u-17 squad face Spartak Moscow today in the opening match of the Spartak Cup.
Tommy McIntyre’s team face an incredible schedule of fixtures with Barcelona tomorrow, Dinamo Kiev on Thursday, Benfica on Friday then a welcome day of rest before meeting Spurs on Sunday!
It’s a crash course in European football up against the elite of the game with McIntyre looking forward to the action getting underway tonight at 7pm Moscow time, 4pm Celtic Park time.
“Spartak discussed this tournament when they were over for the Champions League,” the hoops coach explained.
“We’ve known for a while that we’re coming here and have prepared for it. It’s a heavy schedule but in terms of experience and education it’s an excellent opportunity for everyone from players to coaches.
“Our squad is probably one of the youngest here, we have a mix of u-17’s and u-16’s. Our philosophy is to push players to the level above, to challenge them and that’s what we will do this week.
“We’ve not looked too much at our opponents but we’ll be able to watch their matches during the tournament.
“I watched Spartak’s first team against Celtic and sometimes you find that Academy teams play similar to the first team.
“We’ll do as much as we can but the main thing is to look at ourselves and how we set up against different types of opponents.
“Most of our players are internationalists, their used to playing against different styles and are looking forward to getting started in the tournament.”
CLICK HERE for the tournament schedule
