Dalglish backs Celtic to trouble Juve

Scottish legend Kenny Dalglish has tipped Celtic to cause Juventus plenty of problems in their Champions League tie.

The Scottish champions host the Serie A leaders in the first leg of their last-16 encounter on Tuesday.

Having only ever lost five times in the competition on home soil, Celtic will be confident of underlining their giant-killing tendencies having defeated Barcelona earlier in the competition.

And according to former player and manager Dalglish, who scored over 100 goals for Celtic before embarking on a similar reign at Liverpool, few would bet against Neil Lennon’s side staging a major upset.

“I think it’s fantastic what Celtic have done. Beating Barcelona, you wouldn’t have even contemplated predicting that,” Dalglish said.

“They’ve been fantastic, they got over the line by beating Spartak Moscow 2-1 in their last game – two fantastic nights at Celtic Park.

“There’ll be another one against Juventus. They’ll all be looking forward to it, they’ve tasted the success. They want to taste more of it.”

Celtic face a Juventus side that finished top of their group and defeated reigning champions Chelsea en route to the knockout stages.

While Dalglish acknowledges the enormity of the task, the 61-year-old believes Lennon’s side have the prowess to control proceedings against the Italian champions.

“It’s a really difficult tie,” he said. “I saw them play at Chelsea, Juventus.

“They were fantastic. So it’s a really big game for them. It’s a big ask, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

“Of course you can stop anybody playing, you’ve just got to be lucky or they’ve got to have a bad day or whatever. It’s more about Celtic tomorrow night than Juventus, it’s how they play and how they go about their work that’s more important.”

The second leg takes place in Turin in three weeks’ time.