Bologna v Celtic: Team news, referee details, KO time & where to watch

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The Celtic Star

·21 Januari 2026

Bologna v Celtic: Team news, referee details, KO time & where to watch

Serie A side Bologna FC 1909 host Celtic in the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on Thursday evening (22 January) in the penultimate round of matches in the group stages of the 2025/26 Europa League…

December 14, 2025, Bologna, Italy: Team of Bologna seen during the SERIE A match Bologna and Juventus at Stadio Renato DallAra. Final score Bologna 0:1 Juventus. Bologna Italy – Photo IMAGO Grzegorz Wajda

The Italian side go into Matchday in 13th place in the table having collected 11 points while Celtic are currently in 24th spot with seven points, with Brendan Rodgers collecting four points and Martin O’Neill the remaining three points with that outstanding win against Feyenoord in Rotterdam.

Video OneFootball

Celtic Team News

Martin O’Neill, Manager of Celtic, looks on prior to the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD5 match between Feyenoord and Celtic FC at De Kuip on November 27, 2025 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Martin O’Neill just might be tempted to play the same starting XI from the game in Rotterdam. That would mean Kasper Schmeichel in goals, a back four of Colby Donovan, Auston Trusty, Liam Scales and Kieran Tierney; with Callum McGregor being joined in the middle of the park by Arne Engels and Reo Hatate and a front three of Luke McCowan on the right, Daizen Maeda through the middle and Yang on the left wing.

Auchinleck Talbot Goalkeeper William Muir dives for Sebastian Tounekti of Celtic’s shot but the ball flies past him during the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Fourth Round match between Auchinleck Talbot and Celtic at Rugby Park on January 18, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)

However it’s more likely that Sebastian Tounekti will get the nod ahead of Luke McCowan and play on the left wing with Yang moving to the right hand side of the Celtic attack.

It worked the last time Martin tried it and with just the one change it might work again…

Players of Celtic pose for a team photograph prior to the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD5 match between Feyenoord and Celtic FC at De Kuip on November 27, 2025 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

That would leave us with a substitutes bench looking something like this: Sinisalo, Doohan; Murray, Ralston, Nygren, Bernardo, Balikwisha, Shin Yamada, McCowan, Kenny and Forrest.

We’ll know more this evening when Martin O’Neill and a Celtic player does the pre-match media conference from the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara and we’ll report on that separately.

Match Officials

Matthew Fitzpatrick of Linfield is shown a straight red card by match referee, Vassilis Fotias during the UEFA Conference Play-off Round First Leg match between Shelbourne and Linfield at Tolka Park on August 21, 2025 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Five of the six match officials for the Bologna v Celtic Europa League match are from Greece with the other coming from Belgium. The referee will be Vassilis Fotias and he will have fellow countrymen Andreas Meintanas and Michail Papadakis running the lines. The Fourth official Alexandros Tsakalidis is also Greek as is the Video Assistant Referee Angelos Evangelou while his assistant is Bram Van Driessche from Belgium.

Kick-off Time

Bologna v Celtic in the Europa League is one of the matches included in the earlier kickoff times so the action will get underway at 5.45pm CPT*. Hopefully the travelling Celtic support will enjoy their trip and will be heard chanting ‘This is the Day That We Win Away’…

*Celtic Park Time.

Where to Watch

As usual the Europa League matches are all live on TNT Sports 2and discovery+. Coverage starts at 5pm.

TNT Sports is available across all major TV platforms, offering a line-up of up to four TV channels (TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 2, TNT Sports 3, TNT Sports 4), and up to six digital or red-button channels (TNT Sports 5 to 10), and TNT Sports Ultimate plus TNT Sports Box Office HD. You can subscribe to TNT Sports through discovery+, BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.

If you are watching from outside of Britain and Ireland then there’s a full list of Where to Watch the Europa League: TV Broadcast Partners, Live Streams on the official UEFA website using this link.

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