How Celtic can beat Stuttgart in the Europa League, according to Andreas Hinkel

Henkel believes that Stuttgart may have a “slight advantage in the two legs because the second match will be at home.”

If Celtic are looking for an additional source of optimism, it may come from Stuttgart’s away record in this season’s competition.

They have lost three of their four away matches – in Basel, Fenerbahce and Roma.

Although it has to be said that there is nothing to be ashamed of, and the 4-0 win over Dutch side Go Ahead Eagles is also exceptionally impressive.

“The first leg at Celtic Park is important because over the years Stuttgart have achieved some results in the Champions League or Europa League where they lost badly,” Hinkel said.

“For example, in Belgrade they lost 5-1. If you have a match like this at Celtic Park, anything can happen if the crowd is there and the team gets into the rhythm and they play and attack and something like that can happen.

“Stuttgart are a very good team, they are fighting for Champions League qualification in Germany, but since Martin O’Neill has taken over again, Celtic have been getting results. They get results when it’s not that easy – it’s always close to the end, maybe in stoppage time.

“But they got the results and they are a good team and I think the mentality has returned so I expect difficult matches.”