Maurizio Sarri insists Celtic away day Champions League woes won't fool him as he blasts Lazio 'pub chat' criticisms

Maurizio Sarri has blasted his critics in a defiant stance ahead of Champions League action - as he spots where it's gone wrong for Celtic.

The Italian side broke Celtic hearts on Matchday 2 as they inflicted a last-gasp 2-1 defeat upon the Hoops with a stoppage-time Pedro header. They suffered defeat the last time the Premiership champions visited Rome - in 2019 in the Europa League under Neil Lennon's management - and will be keen to avoid doing so again. They are second in the group and could be top with a win on Tuesday but go into the match off the back of patchy domestic form.

A 2-1 defeat to Salernitana at the weekend has left Lazio 11th. Celtic don't head to the Eternal City in a great mood either after a 1-1 home draw against Motherwell, and they're bottom of Group E with victory needed to keep post-Christmas European football hopes alive. Speaking ahead of the match, Sarri says the Hoops being reduced to 10 men in both away defeats at Feyenoord and Atletico Madrid is a major factor on how Brendan Rodgers' side have fared, and he expects a tough clash. He said: "Celtic are a good team, they have good rhythm, decent technical qualities. They are not an easy team to beat.

"We must not delude ourselves about the negative results away from home because they were games conditioned by numerical inferiority. It's a good team and it will certainly be a complicated match. Now we're preparing for the match. I said what I had to say yesterday. Now it's time to regroup, with the great hope that the atmosphere that exists is in the Champions League, give us something more."

Sarri addressed his own teams issues, but gave a stirring response to a question of predictability. He responded to the criticism of his game: