Overview
Coming out of the elimination group and qualifying for the play-off, Celtic won three important points in the match against Feyenoord at De Kuip Stadium in the Europa League.
Despite falling behind early, goals from Hyun-Jun Yang, Reo Hatate and Benjamin Nygren made Martin O'Neill's final match as caretaker manager in the European arena memorable.
Before leaving, the 73-year-old captain helped Celtic win a series of 5 consecutive matches in the Scottish Premier League, scoring 12 goals and conceding only 1 goal, thereby shortening the gap with the leading team Hearts in the rankings.
After taking Celtic past Rangers and reaching the League Cup final, O'Neill gave his seat to Wilfried Nancy - the French coach who has made a big impression in MLS in recent seasons.
However, Nancy suffered a defeat in their debut as head coach, losing 1-2 at home to the Hearts championship rivals last weekend. The limited time makes it difficult for him to fully implement the proposed tactical reform plan.
A turbulent week awaits Celtic, as they play the national cup final against St Mirren, right after the Europa League match against Roma. Their head-to-head record against Italian sides is not very good. Celtic have won just two of their last 16 games, both against Lazio in the 2019-2020 Europa League.
Roma recently won against one of Celtic's biggest rivals when they beat Rangers 2-0 at Ibrox just a few weeks ago.
Roma are now two points ahead of host Celtic, and the Italian capital have had their first home win of this season's Europa League campaign by beating leaders FC Midtjylland last month. Neil El Aynaoui and Stephan El Shaarawy both scored to help Giallorossi climb to 15th place in the rankings, just one point behind the top 8 - a position that will directly qualify for the round of 16.
The Italian capital club's 100th victory in the UEFA second division will be very important, ahead of a challenging journey with matches against Celtic, Stuttgart and Panathinaikos.
After losing to Cagliari last weekend, when Zeki Celik was sent off to Sardinia, Roma are currently fourth in the Serie A rankings and still have a chance to return to the Champions League next season.
Personnel situation
With the Scots Cup final due at the weekend, it is still unclear how Wilfried Nancy will implement his strategy in the next match. However, Celtic are expected to start in his preferred 3-4-2-1 formation.
Meanwhile, Roma will travel to Celtic Park without the services of Ukrainian striker Artem Dovbyk, who is out for a few weeks with a thigh injury.
Expected lineup:
Celtic: Schmeichel, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, Yang, McGregor, Engels, Tounekti, Nygren, Hatate, Maeda.
Roma: Svilar, Ghilardi, Mancini, Ndicka, Celik, Kone, El Aynaoui, Tsimikas, Soule, Pellegrini, Dybala.
The match between Celtic and Roma takes place at 3:00 am on December 12 (Vietnam time).
