The wait to discover the date of Celtic’s match in the Bernabeu could stretch into Saturday.
After 21 years in the elite UEFA competition Celtic fans got the draw that they have been waiting on when Ange Postecoglou’s team were placed alongside Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk.
One opponent stood out from that draw with thousands of fans finally putting together their plan to watch the Celts in Madrid after numerous trips to Barcelona and Milan, some fanatics have even been to Donetsk, twice.
In previous seasons Champions League fixtures have been released early in the evening of the draw but with the UEFA Conference added to the Europa League things have become more complex as The Sun (18:22) reported:
Celtic and Rangers fans will need to wait at least 24 hour before making their Champions League travel plans.
The Europa League and Conference League draws take place tomorrow and UEFA will likely wait to release all the fixtures at the same time.
It could see the announcement delayed until Saturday, but they will need to wait until at least tomorrow before any confirmation is made.
With Spanish teams involved in all three competitions it seems that UEFA will want to ensure that there are matches at the 6pm and 8pm slots on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before they can publish the Champions League dates.
Real will be paired with Atletico Madrid with the plan being that they have home and away fixtures for each round of matches but that has to match in with the same arrangement for the Glasgow clubs. Leipzig and Shakhtar can be more flexible although the club from Ukraine will be playing their home matches in Warsaw.
Naturally the Champions League will take priority, a fixture list is probably in draft format but it will have to wait until the other two draws are completed before going public and sparking a rush to book flights with the matches being played between September 6 and November 2.
