Celtic could have started their Europa League campaign at home had Real Betis got their way.
But club president Angel Haro has admitted UEFA gave a fixture request to flip the Parkhead and Seville fixtures short shrift — as Rangers are already set to begin their push at Ibrox against Lyon the same night.
The Hoops return to Seville, the site of their 2003 UEFA Cup Final heartbreak, a week on Thursday but it's the Benito Villamarin they'll head for this time.
The reverse fixture on December 9 means Ange Postecoglou's men finish the group stage in Glasgow.
However Haro wanted things the other way around as he ripped into a nightmare fixture schedule that means Betis play a La Liga match at Granada with a startling 10pm kick-off on Monday, before facing the Hoops less than three days later.
Haro said: "The opening game of the Europa League is not to our liking because we wanted to play the first game away from home.
"We contacted UEFA and asked them to change fixtures so we would play Celtic in Glasgow first.
"But they informed us that Celtic and Rangers cannot play at the same time in Glasgow so the fixture remains as it was.
"Playing so late on a Monday is hardly ideal either. It means we have a very difficult schedule of La Liga games, Europa League games and La Liga games in a very short space of time.
"There's no point crying about it as it's confirmed now, but it makes it hard for us. Thankfully, we had a good transfer market and we believe the squad we have is good enough to be competitive in both competitions."
