Celtic vs AC Milan: Heavyweight Preseason Test

Celtic have left the glamour tie until last. On Saturday, Celtic Park hosts AC Milan, seven-time kings of Europe, in a friendly that feels anything but gentle for a team still searching for a first preseason win and only a week out from the Scottish Premiership opener against Dundee on August 3.

Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. in Glasgow, matching the time across the United Kingdom. That’s 10 a.m. ET and 7 a.m. PT in the United States, and 4 p.m. CEST in Italy. There is no traditional TV broadcast; CelticPlayer carries the match worldwide, with beIN Sports Connect, DAZN and Sky Sport Calcio picking it up in Australia, Belgium and Italy.

Pulisic Sidelined for Amorim’s Milan Bow

Rúben Amorim’s first game in charge of Milan comes with a notable absentee. Christian Pulisic will not feature after suffering a bone bruise and microfracture to his tibia and fibula during the United States’ World Cup round-of-16 exit. The setback, reported to sideline him for weeks rather than months, removes one of Milan’s most dangerous forwards from the stage.

Amorim has already sketched out where he sees the American fitting in once he returns.

“Pulisic is a highly talented player, but unfortunately, he got injured again,” he said, as quoted by CBS Sports. “I have an idea of where I want to see him play — on the left as an inverted winger.”

The Portuguese coach arrives from Manchester United after Milan’s slide down the Serie A table last season, tasked with restoring edge and identity. He will have to start that work without a string of World Cup returnees. Mike Maignan, Pervis Estupiñán, Koni De Winter, Adrien Rabiot, Ardon Jashari, Luka Modrić, Rafael Leão, Alexis Saelemaekers and Santiago Giménez are all expected to sit this one out.

New marquee signing Gonçalo Ramos, brought in for around $84 million, is still on vacation. The spotlight may instead fall on fresh faces Mario Gila and teenage prodigy Francesco Camarda, who could pull on the Rossoneri shirt for the first time.

For Milan, the Glasgow trip is the start of a demanding global circuit: Australia next to face Inter, then meetings with Chelsea and Manchester United before Serie A begins away to Torino on August 23. This is not a gentle warm-up. It is a stress test of depth and ideas.

Celtic Chasing First Win and a Spark Before Dundee

On the Celtic side, the mood is more restless than celebratory. Martin O’Neill’s team have yet to win in preseason, drawing with Middlesbrough and Shelbourne and being comfortably beaten by Sporting CP. Performances have been patchy. The stands have told their own story.

Only around 5,000 supporters turned up for the Middlesbrough draw, a sparse crowd at a stadium that usually swells with noise. Some of that reflects frustration with the club’s transfer business, but O’Neill pointed to another reality.

“It’s pretty expensive to come to games now,” he said, via GlasgowWorld. “We’ve got a game against AC Milan next week, so if some people are coming to both games, that’s a lot of money.”

The Milan visit, then, becomes more than a prestige friendly. It is a chance to reconnect with a fanbase, sharpen a team still finding rhythm, and give Celtic Park something to believe in before Dundee arrive.

Camilo Durán, the club’s lone permanent signing of the summer, has been one of the few bright spots. He scored the equaliser against Middlesbrough and is expected to lead the line again, carrying the responsibility of providing goals in a side still being stitched together.

At the back, there is better news. Cameron Carter-Vickers, returning from a ruptured ACL, played an hour in that Middlesbrough match and should feature again as he builds fitness. His presence, even short of full sharpness, brings authority to a defence that badly missed him.

World Cup returnees Alistair Johnston, Kieran Tierney, Auston Trusty and Yang Hyun-jun are all available, giving O’Neill options in key areas. Daizen Maeda, reportedly close to a move to Ipswich Town, will not be involved, a reminder that this squad is still in flux as the season looms.

Old Foes, New Questions

History leans heavily Milan’s way. Across 12 meetings, the Italian giants have eight wins. Celtic have just one, with three draws. The names have changed, the stakes are different, but the weight of that record still hangs in the air when these clubs meet.

For Celtic, the challenge is clear: find intensity, find cohesion, and find a result that can carry into the opening league fixture. For Milan, the task is more strategic: bed in Amorim’s ideas, protect key legs, and glimpse how the next phase of this project might look once the missing stars return.

The glamour of the fixture will draw more than the 5,000 who watched Middlesbrough. The question is what they will see: a Celtic side still stumbling into the new campaign, or one that finally finds its stride against one of Europe’s great names.