Celtic vs RB Leipzig predicted lineups and team news

Celtic play their fourth match in the league phase of the Champions League when they entertain RB Leipzig on Tuesday 5th November..

Celtic vs RB Leipzig predicted lineups

Celtic (4-3-3): Schmeichel; Johnston, Trusty, Carter-Vickers, Valle; Engels, McGregor, Hatate; Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda

RB Leipzig (4-2-2-2): Gulacsi; Geertruida, Klostermann, Orban, Henrichs; Kampl, Vermeeren; Baumgartner, Nusa; Openda, Sesko

The Scottish champions have had a mixed bag of results in the new-look competition this season. They started with a 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava, before a 7-1 defeat by Borussia Dortmund and an excellent goalless draw on the road against Atalanta.

The Bhoys beat Aberdeen 6-0 on Saturday to reach the Scottish League Cup final and are unbeaten in the Scottish Premiership this season, with nine wins and one draw from their first 10 games.

Leipzig have had a tough start to the Champions League this season. They’re one of only six teams to have lost their first three games after defeats by Atletico Madrid, Juventus and Liverpool.

They suffered their first league loss of the season when going down 2-1 at Borussia Dortmund on Saturday but are still second in the Bundesliga table, three points behind Bayern Munich.

Visitors set to be without key defender

RB Leipzig saw their unbeaten start to the Bundesliga season ended at the weekend when they were missing a key defender who also looks set to miss the trip to Scotland.

French defender Castello Lukeba has done a fantastic job for Leipzig since being signed from Lyon before the 2023-24 season to fill the void left by Josko Gvardiol’s departure to join Manchester City.

Lukeba made 39 league and cup appearances in his first campaign with the club as they conceded just 29 league goals.

Marco Rose said the left-sided central defender, who is thought to be a target for Liverpool and Real Madrid, missed the Dortmund game for fear of aggravating a thigh issue.

“He picked up a thigh injury in training and we don’t want to take any risks or else we are talking about five or six weeks out,” said Rose.

“I therefore don’t think it’s very likely that he will play against Celtic.”

Celtic vs RB Leipzig team news

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has a full squad to choose from for his team’s latest European test. His options increased further at the weekend with three players returning for the League Cup game against Aberdeen after time on the sidelines.

Captain Callum McGregor and Nicolas Kuhn went straight back into the Bhoys’ team for that match, while Adam Idah made a substitute appearance having missed the previous match against Dundee.

In addition to the likely absence of centre-back Castello Lukeba, Leipzig manager Marco Rose will still be without the services of Xaver Schlager (knee), David Raum (ankle) and Xavi Simons (ankle).

Austrian midfielder Nicolas Seiwald was back on the bench against Dortmund having been out for almost a month with a thigh problem.