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WILL THESE 3 CELTS RETURN TO STARTING XI AT HAMPDEN?

Celtic will be making their first trip to the national stadium of the season when they face off against Aberdeen at Hampden Park in the Scottish Cup semi-final.


The winner will set-up a final against one of either Rangers or Hearts at the end of the season, and the Hoops will no doubt have some extra impetuous to get the job done after missing out on the Viaplay Cup earlier this season, departing the competition at the first time of asking at the hands of Kilmarnock, with Rugby Park not proving to be the easiest of grounds for the champions to visit.


The Hoops have had it relatively easy in getting to this stage, seeing off Highland League side Buckie Thistle at home before making the trip to Paisley to defeat St Mirren.


Livingston surprisingly brought the match to Celtic in the quarter-finals, levelling the scoring on two occasions and almost finding a late goal to win the game, before a late surge from the Hoops saw them win 4-2.


They will be without the hat-trick hero from that quarter-final encounter as Daizen Maeda misses the rest of the season through injury, but there are a number of others in green and white who will be willing to rise to the occasion at Hampden Park.


The squad is taking shape with a number of key players coming back from injury, leaving Brendan Rodgers with plenty to ponder with regards to team selection.


Here are 3 curveballs that the manager could throw in for tomorrow's massive semi-final encounter.





Stick With Maik Nawrocki

Brendan Rodgers revealed in today's press conference that Liam Scales has returned from injury and is fit and ready for tomorrow's semi-final.


Maik Nawrocki took the Irishman's place last weekend against St Mirren and made up a defence that limited the St Mirren attack to just 1 shot on target.


The Pole hasn't really had a stretch of games to really establish himself at the club, and after a solid performance last weekend, now could be the time to do just that.


The Return of The Captain

It is very rare that Celtic will go a period of time without having Callum McGregor in the team, with the 30-year-old consistently racking up some of the most minutes played across all of Europe every season.


Celtic have had to contend without the Captain for a few weeks this season, with Tomoki Iwata slotting in in place of him and performing admirably, not really putting much of a foot wrong.


McGregor has made two cameos from the bench in the last two fixtures, but given that the stakes are raised for a high-pressure game such as a Scottish Cup semi-final, now is the perfect time to have a serial winner like Callum McGregor in the team.





Luis Palma From The Start

The Honduran has been a divisive player amongst Celtic supporters, but when he is at the top of his game, he is an incredibly difficult player for the opposition to contend with, as evidenced by his blistering start to life at Celtic in the first few months of the season.


Whilst Nicolas Kuhn and Yang Hyun-jun have both been featuring in recent weeks, neither can compare to a top of his game Luis Palma, and he should be given his first start since returning from injury at the weekend.


James McKenzie // @JamesWHMcKenzie

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