CELTIC will play Red Bull Salzburg, the Austrian club who have been bankrolled by the energy drinks company since being bought over back in 2005, in their second Europa League group game tomorrow evening.

The Scottish champions started Group B positively with a 1-0 triumph over their Norwegian rivals Rosenborg at Parkhead last month, but their next opponents promise to be far harder to overcome.

Andreas Ivanschitz, the former Salzburg midfielder and Austrian internationalist who played for Panathinaikos against Rangers in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup, is looking forward to the encounter.

Ivanschitz casts his expert eye over Marco Rose’s team as they prepared to square up to Brendan Rodgers’s side in the Red Bull Arena.

SO WHAT ARE RED BULL SALZBURG LIKE?

“Celtic can expect to come up against a young team and a hungry team who fight for every centimetre on the field.

“They have a really good structure. They are comfortable with having the ball. But when they get into the final third they are prepared to take some risks.

“When they lose the ball they immediately change and work hard to recover it. There are always three or four players involved in getting it back.

“That is one of their great strengths – their willingness to chase after the ball once they have lost it. That is especially true in their home games. They have that mentality.

“They have a good rhythm. They have skilful players and fast players.”

WHO ARE THEIR STAR PLAYERS?

“Their striker Moanes Dabour is one of their key players. He has scored a lot of goals and is a good finisher. But he is also very skilful which means he is very comfortable when it comes to holding the ball, dribbling with the ball and giving nice passes. He is their target man up front. He is a complete player.

“They brought in Zlatko Junuzovic from Werder Bremen in the summer. He is one of their older, more experienced players. He retired from international football in last summer after Austria failed to qualify for the Russia 2018 finals.

“Alongside him in midfield are Diadie Samassekou and Amadou Haidara, who are both Malian. They are both very flexible box-to-box players. They are comfortable in possession and also very fast. They are great athletes. They run for 90 minutes.

“They have a decent defence as well with good full-backs. The left back, Andreas Ulmer, and the right back, Stefan Lainer, are very involved in their offensive game. They push upfield and attack all the time.

“Lainer has attracted a lot of interest from clubs around Europe and was close to moving to Italy in the summer. But he decided to stay.

“Lainer and Ulmer, the Red Bull captain, both play in the Austrian national team. They have a few talented young Austrian players in their side, which is positive. They take development very seriously.

“Up front, Hannes Wolf, is a young left-footed player. He won the UEFA Youth League with Marco Rose last year. He is a very talented player.”

WHAT IS THEIR MANAGER MARCO ROSE LIKE?

“I played with Marco at Mainz in Germany for two seasons and know him very well. He is a great person and a great coach. He started off in the youth team and did very well, winning the equivalent of the youth Champions League two seasons ago.

“He has stepped up to the first team and everybody loves him. He has had great success. He has brought through young players and developed them. The team has made great progress.”