Celtic fans could outnumber home supporters when the hoops face Lazio next month in the Stadio Olympico.
Around 1,300 Lazio fans are expected in Glasgow tomorrow night but Celtic have been given an allocation of 9,000 tickets for the match on November 7 with more fans expected to make the journey to the Italian capital.
UEFA have imposed a partial closure at the Stadio Olympico due to the repeated racist actions of the Lazio support but the stadium will be half empty regardless of the sanctions imposed..
After six seasons in the Europa League, Thursday night football holds little appeal for Lazio fans with a feud simmering with their directors over the UEFA sanctions.
Rome based reporter Alasdair MacKenzie told the Daily Record:
There is a very real risk for Lazio that game will be like a home game for Celtic. There was a match last season, I was there, where Eintracht Frankfurt came and it was their first European campaign in years so their fans were really up for it.
They brought a massive support and the Frankfurt fans outnumbered the Lazio fans about three to one. It was a bit embarrassing, to be honest, from a Lazio perspective but it does tell you a lot about how the fans view it. Over here, it’s 9pm kick-offs on a Thursday and people can’t really be bothered quite often to actually go and watch these games.
I’m hopeful Celtic will be different because it’s a bigger team, a more glamorous team with a bit of European history behind them. It’s a more prestigious fixture and it also has the novelty factor because they’ve never played each other before in a competitive game.
But with the Curva section there shut, obviously, that will reduce the crowd but it doesn’t mean there won’t be a crowd. There are still sections either side of that, above it and also the main tribute. So, there’ll be plenty of opportunity for a good number of fans to still be at that game, so it’s about how much they want it.
With little interest in the match from home supporters’ ticketless Celtic fans shouldn’t struggle to get into the match with plans likely to be in place to house them close to the area officially allocated to away supporters.