Barcelona vs Celtic – Match Preview

FC Barcelona play their first game of the new 2016-2017 season on Saturday, July 30 when they take on Scottish champions Celtic in a friendly game in Dublin as part of the ongoing International Champions Cup.

The Catalan giants begin their preparations for the new season against the Scottish side with a number of first team players available for selection, although the main target of a fourth choice forward is still absent.

Barça are in the market for a fourth forward after missing out on Luciano Vietto who joined Sevilla, and probably Kevin Gameiro. The club have however reinforced other positions with the acquisition of Denis Suarez, Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne and Andre Gomes with only Denis available for the game as the other three players are away on holidays.

Barça have a couple of first team players available with Luis Suarez joined with Lionel Messi and Arda Turan who cut their holidays short to begin preseason earlier than scheduled.

The likes of Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets also sacrificed their holidays to be with the team earlier than expected but they are unlikely to feature.

There are also other first team players present with the likes of Jeremy Mathieu, Masip, Aleix Vidal, Sergi Roberto, Samper and Munir all gearing up to begin the new season.

Barça have been training at St George's Park in England throughout the past week with Jeremy Mathieu missing the Thursday morning session due to an illness but returned to participate in the evening session and should be fit for the game with coach Luis Enrique likely to take the entire available players.

Barça have both good and bad memories about Celtic as both teams have faced each other numerous times in Europe. The major connection between both team is Swedish legend Henrik Larsson who featured for both clubs.

Celtic will have an eye on their UEFA Champions League qualifier second leg tie on Wednesday and the game against Barça will be a major confidence boost. They already played a 1-1 draw against Leicester this weekend, losing out on penalties to Claudio Ranieri's men.

After the game against Celtic, Barça will take on Premier League champions Leicester in Stockholm before heading to Wembley to play against Liverpool. After that, the Gamper trophy and then the Spanish Super Cup against Sevilla. See: FC Barcelona full preseason schedule.