Celtic Menantang Shelbourne dalam Laga Uji Coba di Dublin

Klub juara Skotlandia Celtic memulai rangkaian persiapan pramusim mereka dengan menyambangi markas tim Liga Irlandia Shelbourne di Tolka Park, Dublin, pada Selasa, 7 Juli 2026 malam.

Pertandingan pembuka musim panas ini menjadi ujian pertama bagi skuad asuhan Martin O'Neill yang tampil tanpa sejumlah pilar penting akibat keikutsertaan mereka di Piala Dunia 2026.

Dilansir dari laporan scotsman.com dan glasgowworld.com, beberapa bintang tim utama seperti Colby Donovan, Callum McGregor, dan Luke McCowan tetap dibawa ke ibu kota Irlandia dan berpeluang besar untuk diturunkan.

Sebaliknya, Shelbourne selaku tuan rumah saat ini sedang berada di tengah kompetisi domestik mereka dan menempati peringkat kelima dalam klasemen sementara League of Ireland Premier Division.

Keterbatasan pilihan pemain utama akibat Piala Dunia membuat manajer Martin O'Neill harus memaksimalkan kedalaman skuadnya dengan memberikan kesempatan bagi para pemain pelapis dan talenta muda berbakat.

Manajer Celtic Martin O'Neill memberikan pernyataan mengenai situasi kontrak dan energinya kepada media klub pada akhir bulan lalu.

"I’m here at least another year, it depends on results like everything else but yeah, it was strange in the sense that if I'd been asked about it a day after we'd done it (the double), I don't think I would have the energy." kata Martin O'Neill, Manajer Celtic.

O'Neill menambahkan pandangannya mengenai perasaannya setelah masa liburan yang terasa sangat singkat sebelum menyongsong pramusim baru.

"I suppose deep down really, if I'm being honest about it, probably think if you felt ok about maybe late July, August or September time and things had moved on without you, then you think, ‘oh gosh, maybe I would like to have stayed on’ or something I guess. So I tried to project myself a couple of months further forward, as you can see, I don't feel all that fantastic so far. The holiday that I had lasted about 15 minutes, I think, it feels as if it was like 5 days ago or something since we won. All of that there will change, we'll get pre-season, try and get a couple of players in to augment the squad, and try and get going." ujar Martin O'Neill, Manajer Celtic.

Ia juga menegaskan pentingnya hasil akhir dalam industri sepak bola modern serta ambisinya untuk menerapkan gaya kepemimpinan yang berbeda.

"It's the results business. I've seen this in the past, it's evidential every single week of the footballing season, that what somebody has done in the past does not count for very much. For instance, Liverpool would stay with their manager, he'd won the league the previous year and is no longer the manager of the football club.

It can happen and it would be the same here. You don't get results, it's totally driven by results, but what I would like to try and do this season is, I've said about managing in a different fashion to what I used to do years ago. I think I can marry the both in many aspects." kata Martin O'Neill, Manajer Celtic.

Selepas menyelesaikan pertandingan di Dublin, Celtic dijadwalkan terbang menuju Portugal untuk menantang Sporting CP, sebelum kembali ke Glasgow timur untuk menghadapi Middlesbrough pada 18 Juli serta AC Milan di Parkhead pada 25 Juli 2026.