The Feyenoord manager has confirmed that he will be without two key players against Celtic.

Arne Slot, the manager of Feyenoord, revealed to the media that two of his key attacking players will be out of action on Tuesday as Celtic host the Dutch champions in their UEFA Champions League Group Stages opener in Rotterdam. Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers will welcome the Dutch champions to the Scottish capital for what promises to be a thrilling encounter.

Both teams will view this game as a chance to get something out of a difficult qualifying group that includes Dutch champions Feyenoord, Italian side Lazio and Spanish outsider Atletico Madrid. In truth, it could have been worse, but it’s still a huge challenge to try and make it out of this group and into the knockouts. Feyenoord have been the talk of Holland in recent weeks, with many citing PSV’s 5-1 drubbing of Ibrox in the play-off for the tournament as a catalyst for Rodgers’ Celtic to show what they are all about next week when they embark on another European adventure.

Arne Slot has confirmed that the Dutch side will be without suspended striker Santiago Gimenez and Japanese forward Ayase Ueda, who was injured while on international duty with Celtic alongside Furuhashi. “I wasn’t too concerned about Lutsharele,” said Slot ahead of this weekend’s clash with Heerenveen. “I thought it wouldn’t be too much of a problem.” According to Daily Record, “I didn’t think it would be a big problem.”

Of course, you are very disappointed about Ueda’s absence, not so much because of the weekend but because of the fact that the club spent a lot of money to cover the suspension of Santiago Gimenez for the Champions League, so it’s a pity that he can’t play. There are not many options for how to fix this, but until now, it didn’t matter who the striker was, they would still be able to hit the ball. We need to find a solution to this problem, and it could be Igor Paixao. He did well in a pre-season game against PECZwolle, but didn’t perform as well as he usually does in friendlies.

Whether it’s due to these injuries or not, it’s clear that this is going to be a game that’s going to be very difficult for the Hoops to win. There’s no such thing as an easy win at this level, and even a point after the first day of the new season would be something to be proud of. Feyenoord will still be full of quality in every department of the pitch, and they’ll still be a team to be reckoned with after winning last season’s title. Still, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t go out there and have a good game and come back with something to show for ourselves.