Midtjylland’s Mbabu insults Celtic with Arne Engels remark | OneFootball

FC Midtjylland’s Kevin Mbabu reckons Celtic’s Arne Engels has the potential to join a ‘big team’ within the next few years…

Arne Engels. Celtic v theRangers. Premier Sports Cup, semi final at Hampden. 2 November 2025. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

Mbabu previously played with the Hoops midfielder at FC Augsburg in the German Bundesliga, and Engels has recently impressed after being brought back into the Celtic lineup by interim boss Martin O’Neill.

However, Mbabu is hoping the Belgian has an off night in tonight’s Europa League encounter. “He’s a great player with a huge potential that I always praise since I’ve seen him in Augsburg,” he said via BBC Sport Scotland. “He has an excellent right foot.

“He’s a complete player, and hopefully, he doesn’t perform as I want him to be usually. But he’s really a player that we can see in a big team in the next few years.

“It will be the first time [I’ve played against him]. And of course, I will also send him a message later, hoping that he will be ready for the game tomorrow. And hoping also that he will not be on my side, because I will kick him!”

Arne Engels. Celtic v theRangers. Premier Sports Cup, semi final at Hampden. 2 November 2025. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

In their previous Europa League outing, Celtic secured a 2–1 victory over Austrian champions Sturm Graz, with goals coming from Liam Scales and Benjamin Nygren. Celtic have collected four points from a possible nine, whereas Midtjylland remain unbeaten with a perfect record at the top of the league stage.

Now, interim Celtic boss O’Neill is looking forward to his first European fixture managing the Hoops since 2004.

“Yeah, I’m obviously looking forward to the game,” the 73 year-old said. “I didn’t realise that, well, I didn’t really look at the fixture list at all, but I hadn’t realised that there was a European game so quickly. And yeah, I am just looking forward to it.”

Celtic press conference, PK, Pressekonferenz – Europa League Herning, Denmark – November 5: Goalkeepers Kasper Schmeichel and Jonas Lossl during Celtic press conference ahead of the match against FC Midtjylland in UEFA Europa League at MCH Arena Herning MCH Arena Denmark. Photo DANIEL STENTZ/IMAGO

“This young man [Kasper Schmeichel] has been telling me the correct pronunciations here and things like this here, so yeah, genuinely looking forward to it.”

Conor Spence

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Celtic in the Eighties and Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style both by David Potter. Photo The Celtic Star

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