00:00And after the early group stages, the Premier Sports Cup reaches the knockout phase, and with it come the big guns, and they don't come bigger than the champions of Scotland, Premier Sports Cup holders, Celtic start the events of their title, as they look to continue their unprecedented era of dominance.
00:21Fulcan, after a long-awaited absence, are back where they belong. A top-line club, once again, following back-to-back promotions.
00:36Well, Brendan Rodgers makes six changes to his starting eleven, as Viljami Sunisalo has given an opportunity in goals, by Lawson Trusty and Dane Murray, coming to the centre of defence.
00:46The 22-year-old signed a new contract just this afternoon. Record-signing Arnie Engels and Luke McCown bolster the midfield, and Johnny Kenny replaces Aramida up front in just his second start for the club.
01:03John McGlynn is without a number of first-team players, and the injury list grew last weekend, after Ethan Ross suffered an ankle injury at Livingston.
01:12Alvy Aguiman comes in for him, while Leicester City loanee Henry Cartwright makes just his second start.
01:19Ross McIver leads the line, having opened the scoring here last season, and there's a quick return to Celtic Park for Scott Bain, who continues in goals.
01:42Ross McIver leads the line from the
02:12This is the first of eight last 16 times.
02:42in the premier sports cup friday night rarity for celtic park in glorious conditions
02:52it's been a baking hot day on scotland's west coast and now here goes dyson maeda straight away
03:05of kenny but it will now come for
03:07look mccarran and tierney getting some early touches high up the bench looking to influence
03:18the game in an attacking sense tierney again this time over hits and michael stewart alongside me
03:27i have to say that game 11 months ago in the quarter final was one of the most stringent
03:34investigations that a visiting team had here certainly domestically for celtic last season
03:41are you expecting something similar well i'm pretty sure that john mcgillen would be desperate for his
03:49side to put in a performance that was similar to last season but i just think that they were in a far
03:56greater place
04:01fall cover than they are just at the moment and obviously
04:07brendan rogers spoke about last season's game at the time talking about how they were
04:12their toughest opponent up until that point
04:15it's certainly going to be a very very tough ask for them to try and replicate that again this season
04:21is james forrest with the ball in guided away by liam henderson early tests for that full cut defense
04:31and lewis nielsen the man to stop that one clear but horny angles may have a problem here
04:48well it just looked like a fairly innocuous uh challenge there
05:02bida the target for that
05:07tunic drills it in it just needed a touch and johnny kenny was not far away
05:18straight away we're seeing this attacking intent from kieran tierney army
05:23yeah we saw it last uh last weekend up at petaudry really starting to come to the fore
05:28kieran tierney getting into those advanced areas there are a few better than him when he gets into that
05:33position determination to hit the byline and take his opponent on and certainly he started off in a
05:40similar vein here tonight as well it's cartwright helping that forward towards
05:45ross mckiver but seen out by dain murray and straight away celtic getting back on
05:54quickly made up feeds it into callum mcgregor
06:01celtic just a few days out from the huge game against fc kairat
06:07in the champions league playoff a game that really will start to shape the story for their season
06:18but all focus on the premier sports cup tonight and navigating this all premiership tie
06:24yeah i mean look make no mistake about it the champions league is
06:33such an important barometer for celtic in regards to success or failure
06:37bide up and low and it's nielsen again the man on loan for parts
06:45i know and i'm just going to say on that note rory when you look at obviously the the setup of the
06:51the squad and the shape of it brendan rogers has been very
06:56um forceful in these comments about the the squad and the players that are here have done everything they
07:01can and have been very good and impressive but they do need reinforcements as charlie was talking
07:09about in particular at the top end of the park because there is no doubt that the squad is not as
07:13strong as it was at that cutting edge of the of the team which is is the one that is so vitally
07:22important when you're looking to try to unlock some of the continent's best defenses
07:27and even before you contemplate the potential riches that the champions league will bring should
07:35celtic get there they have sold around about 20 million pounds worth of talent
07:40this summer with nicholas kuhn going to como for around about 17 million
07:45christoph lagabielka away too they've only spent around about three million of that
07:53it's a well in profit there is money there to spend
07:56well i mean the interesting thing is rory i mean if you look back over the last probably 10 years or
08:00so i would imagine there are very few seasons where celtic are not in profit they have a genuine
08:07is that the management speakers player trading model
08:13they make very very good use of of that in terms of selling players for good money and also guys that
08:22are on the periphery you know three and four million here and there that that fairly adds up
08:28especially when you're you're not splurging mega bucks last season they obviously spent a fair few
08:35quid but they brought in an awful lot as well matt o'reilly away keyogo going away in the january
08:44there's a lot of money that gets brought into the club before you even start talking about the
08:47champions league money
08:52here comes calvin miller does help that onto alfie agaman of course miller himself came through the
08:59celtic academy
09:00with mccown and alistair johnson
09:08forest up against mccann and again it's just too far in front of kenny
09:14he's sensing his opportunity tonight to get amongst the goals he has only scored once
09:20for the club that coming in his only other start up at petaudry towards the end of last season
09:33he's thinking about the goal that makes it easier for us to get the goal of this and then we are
09:39working in the end of last season
09:46flicked on by mckiver
09:51straight back under Celtic's command
09:53Celtic making six changes for this last year
10:04the game came after the rampant victory over Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League
10:11that was match day one in the competition Brendan Rodgers made eight changes
10:15trailed at half time the trail with 20 minutes to go
10:20and from angles and it's too deep he was one that was called upon from the bench along with
10:29Nicholas Coon who made an immediate impact in that game and it was required
10:33Brendan Rodgers put much of that down to the number of changes that he made for that game
10:46against the then League One Champions in Falkirk back-to-back promotions for John McGlynn's men
10:52McIver a really good flick on Kieran Tierney running in behind to make sure that Alfie Aguiman who played a big part in that effort from Falkirk 11 months ago
11:08Adams Aguiman back to Adams McIver in the middle Adams slides it across but
11:18Sirisalo with safe hands it was a neat move from Falkirk that opened up the Celtic defence
11:24very good attack in play from Keelan Adams in particular down that right
11:29Henderson could only give that straight to McCown
11:34first start of the season for Luke McCown he's come on in the last 12 minutes but it's already
11:44got a goal in the opening game against Samirran here
11:49Tierney leaves it for McGregor
11:59now Maeda with a bit of space to operate looks early as Forrest coming into the backpost
12:04Kenny now
12:05well good link up between Celtics front through three it just lacked the finishing touch from Johnny Kenny
12:13all starts with Keelan Tierney just in the inside position
12:19Maeda with a deep cross and James Forrest does really well just to
12:24nick it back into a central area for Kenny but he couldn't get his foot wrapped around it
12:29as we just
12:29interesting seeing Keelan Tierney just evolving over the coming weeks we've already seen it
12:38more and more involved
12:40McCown Forrest again in the box break here for Kenny and now McGregor coming forward it's
12:47Callum McGregor and a good save and well held on
13:08you
13:17you
13:19you
13:21you
13:23you
13:27you
13:29that's them again but you can already see just to see the evolution of his game I
13:37wasn't sure whether he would be able to play comfortably on that inside channel
13:40well that's a risky
13:42back
50:29Thank you,
