‘DON’T BE FOOLED,’ SUTTON FIRES EURO WARNING

FORMER Celtic goal hero Chris Sutton has warned his old club not to be fooled by RB Leipzig’s three successive failures in the Champions League this season.

The German club are due to provide the opposition at Parkhead a week on Tuesday following consecutive odd-goal defeats against Atletico Madrid (1-2), Juventus (2-3) and Liverpool (0-1).

But Sutton is convinced Brendan Rodgers’ team will have to show caution as they prepare for fireworks in the east end of Glasgow against a team currently joint top of the Bundesliga alongside Bayern Munich with five wins and two draws from their seven games.

Ominously, they are four points ahead of seventh-placed Borussia Dortmund and no-one needs reminding of the fate that befell the Hoops at the Westfalenstadion at the start of the month.

Rodgers watched an x-certificate display from his side as they collapsed on that occasion to a landslide 7-1 reverse, but the flip side of the club’s character was shown in Italy in midweek in the dilligent goaless stalemate against Atalanta.

Looking ahead to matchday four in Europe’s elite competition, Sutton cautioned: “It’s about mixing and matching to suit and, I’ll be honest, there are aspects from Bergamo you would have to consider against RB Leipzig.

“Don’t be fooled by the fact the Germans have no points. They still possess top talent and caused Liverpool all sorts of problems in the early stages of their match in midweek with their own aggressive press.

“Arne Slot’s team were caught on occasions and got away with not being punished. Brendan Rodgers will look closely at that.

“Of course, there is more onus to go for it at home, but, while expansive and excellent against Slovan Bratislava, it may need dialled-down for Leipzig.

“Then you could take more risk again against Brugge and Young Boys at home, while altering similarly for Zagreb and Aston Villa away. It’s about adaptation, constantly.

“Celtic will have that again tomorrow when they are back onto the normal routine against Motherwell.

“I’d be shocked if Rodgers didn’t freshen it up at Fir Park. Paulo Bernardo, Kyogo Furuhashi and Luke McCowan could all start, more changes again for Dundee in midweek ahead of a Premier Sports League Cup semi-final with Aberdeen and then Leipzig.”

Sutton, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “Top coaches can switch and alter to suit. You don’t get to that level without being able to do so.

“Being positive and front-foot doesn’t just mean being gung-ho. You can do it with subtle alterations and that’s where the progress was made in Bergamo.

“Now it’s about taking that forward and making such welcome Champions League results a more regular occurrence.

“That is, after all, was one of the major targets upon Rodgers’ return.”