Mark Venus has confirmed Celtic will make changes for their Europa League clash with Rapid Vienna.
Celtic to make changes for European encounter
Mark Venus has confirmed Celtic will make changes for their Europa League clash with Rapid Vienna.
The Bhoys are not able to make it through to the last 32 of the competition, while the Austrian side will also bow out of Europe after their final Group C game.
Venus nevertheless insists there is plenty to play for as Celtic prepare to rest their more established stars and field some of their fringe men.
Assistant manager Venus has urged those players to grasp the opportunity to impress, while he feels such rotation will help Celtic.
"It's a game where some of the players who haven't played much European football might get some experience and some more games under their belts," he said.
"You might see a few changes here, which I think should be beneficial to the younger boys."
He added: "You can't keep playing the same players all the time, as other clubs have proven.
Experience
"So we've got to use some games to give some boys some experience.
"If there's nothing on the games then it's obviously more beneficial we play them because there's no pressure on them.
"We can't take any further part in this tournament so it means the game is effectively dead."
Victory on Thursday would make a marginal difference to Scottish football's plummeting co-efficient, which determines their degree of involvement in European football.
But Venus said: "I'm not sure it'll do a lot for the co-efficient to be perfectly honest.
"But I think we'd like, eventually, for Scottish teams to do better in the co-efficient."
Balance
Celtic have won their last four games in all competitions and Venus is happy with their form ahead of the European encounter.
"We've got a decent balance with the team," said Venus.
"I think the team are performing really well and I think they got a bit of consistency in their game.
"The season's settled down a bit now, rather than being up and down as we started."
