Overview
Bologna has just experienced an emotional 2024-2025 season when they excellently won the Coppa Italia championship after a 1-0 victory over AC Milan. The first major title in 51 years is not only of historical significance, but also helps the Emilia-Romagna team win the right to participate in the Europa League this season.
In the European arena, coach Vincenzo Italiano's team had an unfavorable start when losing to Aston Villa 0-1 in the opening match of the group stage. However, Bologna quickly regained balance with a 5-match unbeaten streak afterwards, including 3 wins and 2 draws.
Positive results help Bologna rise to 13th place in the Europa League standings with 11 points, only 2 points behind the top 8 leading teams when the group stage remains for two rounds. This helps the goal of reaching the top 8 - which means a direct ticket to the round of 16 - still be completely within reach of the Serie A representative.
Coach Italiano expects his team to win all 6 points in the last 2 matches against Celtic and Maccabi Tel Aviv to maximize the opportunity to advance. However, Bologna entered this match in a context where overall form is not really stable.
In all competitions, Rossoblu has only won one of their last 9 matches, suffering 5 defeats and 3 draws, including one loss after a penalty shootout. That series of results somewhat affected Bologna's confidence, although their performance in the Europa League is still relatively positive.
In the opposite direction, Celtic is showing signs of strong recovery since veteran coach Martin O'Neill returned to the coaching bench. The 73-year-old coach was appointed interim for the second time in the season after the departure of Brendan Rodgers in October 2025, a time when Celtic fell into crisis both in terms of performance and internal affairs.
O'Neill quickly created an immediate impact when he helped the team win 7 out of the first 8 matches. Although the board of directors then awarded the head coach's seat to Wilfried Nancy, this decision quickly became a mistake. The French coach only won 2 out of 8 matches before being sacked, becoming one of the shortest and least effective coaches in Celtic history.
O'Neill's return once again brings positive signals. Since reappearing as interim coach until the end of the season, he has helped Celtic win all 3 recent matches, thereby rekindling hope in the Europa League.
Currently, the representative of Scotland is ranked 24th in the rankings with 7 points after six matches, only ahead of Dinamo Zagreb - ranked 25th - thanks to goal difference. That means Celtic can completely be eliminated if they do not achieve favorable results in the final rounds.
Despite playing away in Italy, Celtic still has a basis to be confident thanks to their improved form under O'Neill, especially when Bologna is facing many difficulties in recent times. The upcoming confrontation is therefore crucial for the ambitions of both teams to advance in the Europa League this season.
Expected lineup:
Ravaglia, Holm, Casale, Heggem, Miranda, Freuler, Pobega, Orsolini, Fabbian, Rowe, Castro.
Schmeichel, Ralston, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, Engels, McGregor, Hatate, Yang, Maeda, Tounekti.
The match between Bologna and Celtic takes place at 0:45 AM on January 23 (Vietnam time).
