It may only be a friendly, but Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg expects their clash with Celtic to be a "real" game.
Like the Scottish champions, the English Championship outfit kicked off their pre-season preparations with a warm weather training camp in Portugal.
They played local side Farense in a bounce game, drawing 2-2 with 22 players getting a 45-minute run-out each.
They've been continuing their training at their Rockliffe base and will come north for a friendly at Parkhead on Saturday. With four weeks to go until the start of their league season, manager Hellberg expects the Celtic game to feel more like a proper game than that outing in Portugal.
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He told the club website: “The first game is more about getting 45 minutes into the legs of 20 players and preparing for the new season in that way. It’s not really what I would call a great game.
“I am looking forward to the Celtic game. That is more what I would call like a real game. And then, of course, the weeks that follow that. They will be important for us in every different aspect.
“We’re going to take a lot of fans up there with us, and that is why I think it will have that feel of a real game, compared to the one in Portugal. We’ll have a good week leading into that game, because we will need that.
“We need to train hard and help the players develop. I’m looking forward to the game, though. It will be fun to see all the supporters again.”
