Cup Battle For Bhoys & Bairns
~~~~~~~~~~ Official TC Match Preview ~~~~~~~~~~


New Bhoy Benjamin Nygren notched his first goal & assist in the 2-0 win over Aberdeen last week

Celtic Park, Glasgow
Friday, 15 August 2025
19.45 BST

The Hoops' attention turns to the League Cup defence tomorrow evening, when they host newly promoted side back to the top flight, Falkirk at Celtic Park for a rare Friday night of football in Paradise.

The Bhoys are coming into this game on the back of a 2-0 Premiership win over the Dons at Pittodrie last weekend, where Benjamin Nygren recorded his first Celtic goal as well as chalking up an assist, for Reo Hatate's thunderbolt which sealed sealed the victory.

Having taken maximum points from the first two League games of the season, the focus shifts to the League Cup tomorrow night, in what will be the Hoops final match ahead of the Champions League Play-Off first leg against Kairat Almaty next Wednesday.

But before then the Hoops have to contend with the visit of Falkirk, with both teams aware that a win will ensure they will be the first to qualify for the Quarter-Final draw.​

September 2024: Adam Idah scored twice in two minutes in the 5-2 League Cup win last season

While there is plenty to be optimistic about heading into this game for the Hoops, they cannot simply take anything for granted, and Brendan Rodgers and his side need only look back at the last time these teams met to know exactly why.

It was September last year in this same competition, when Falkirk first took an early lead and again were ahead at the halftime interval, 2-1. It wasn't until Rodgers was forced to make 4 changes on the hour mark for the Hoops to start to click, resulting in a late flurry, with the Hoops scoring 4 goals in the last 20 minutes and the visitors being reduced to 10 men, to finally put the result beyond reach.

The Bairns certainly deserved the praise that day, as well as for what they have achieved over the past couple of years, having secured back-to-back promotions and returning to the top flight this summer, all under the direction of manager John McGlynn.

Falkirk also impressed during the Group Stage phase of this competition, easily progressing from their Group undefeated, with an aggregate of 14-1 across those 4 matches.

Life back in the Premiership has been a bit bumpy however, and coming into this match on the back of a 3-1 defeat to fellow promoted side, Livingston, last weekend.

Stats & Facts​

• Celtic are undefeated in the past 13 meetings (W11 D2) between these sides across all competitions since March 2007.

• Should Liam Scales feature in this match, it will be his 100th appearance for Celtic.

• Falkirk won all 4 of their League Cup Group matches, with an aggregate of 14-1.

Liam Scales is set to make his 100th Celtic appearance if he is involved against Falkirk tomorrow

Team News

Brendan Rodgers has practically a full squad to choose from for this match, with the exception of long-term absebtee Jota, who is continuing to rehabiliate after the surgery that was conducted to correct the knee ligament trouble.

The manager may want to use this match as an opportunity to rotate some of the squad. Even though there has only been a couple of games since the season got underway, it will be interesting to see how the starting XI lines up on Friday, especially as only a couple of the new arrivals have had a taste of first team football since their arrival.

As for the visitors, manager John McGlynn is already without a number of his squad through injury, including Col Donaldson, Barney Stewart, Jamie Snedden, Thomas Lang and Finn Yeats, while Ethan Ross is also considered a doubt.​

Referee: Lloyd Wilson

This will be the first time Wilson has been appointed to a match involving Celtic in any competition. While he made his Premiership debut last season, this is also the first time he has been assigned to any League Cup match beyond the Group Stage.

Celtic's Overall Record
M:0 W:0 D:0 L:0

VAR: John Beaton



~~~~ Head to Head ~~~~

Overall
P:165 W:106 D:31 L:28​

Last 5 Meetings
W W W W D

~~~~ 2025/26 Form ~~~~

All Comps
W W ~ L D W W D​