Celtic star opens up on boarding school and the RB Leipzig Champions League hotshot he knows well

Nobody at Celtic will be taking RB Leipzig lightly, especially their Belgian midfielder Arne Engels.

The Germans may be pointless after three Champions League defeats by Atletico Madrid, Juventus and Liverpool, but they are currently second in the Bundesliga. They will be aiming to reignite their European hopes in Glasgow on Tuesday evening.

Celtic’s Engels, a summer signing from fellow German club Augsburg, lost twice to Marco Rose’s men last season and also has friend in the ranks. Lois Openda, three years Engels’ senior at 24, is part of the Belgium national team and was Club Brugge youth product. Engels also has a close mate from his Club Brugge days in Norwegian winger Antonio Nusa.

Celtic's Arne Engels will hope to keep up his good form against RB Leipzig. | Getty Images

Openda is set to start up front for Leipzig at Celtic Park. He has scored five goals in nine matches for them this season and Engels knows him well, having spent time together at the same boarding school in Brugge.

“You speak with everybody in the national team and I know him from there,” Engels said of Openda. “In Brugge also, we studied in the same boarding school, so it was really nice to see him back in the national team and now play against him. It's really amazing to see how far he's going - he's an amazing player.”

Engels first came across Openda when he was 13 at school - although he was left a little in awe of his elder. “He's older than me, so we didn't really speak to each other,” continued Engels. “It's normal when you're 13 that you don't speak to guys that are three, four years older than you. So, I was just seeing him there. But it's always nice to recognise a familiar face.

“We need to watch out for him. But every player in RB Leipzig is really good, otherwise they don't play there - so it's not only him.”

Engels’ formative years away from home set up him for stints in Germany and Scotland at the tender age of 21. The midfielder speaks as classily as he plays and agrees that being at a boarding school has helped him mature - with a little bit of fun along the way.

“When you're away from home, like I did in Germany ,then you really start to think, what am I doing here?” continued Engels. “But it starts to settle in really quickly and you're getting mature every day. So, yeah, it really helped me, I think, to be the person that I am.

RB Leipzig's Lois Openda is well-known to one Celtic player. | Getty Images

“It [boarding school] was really great. Like everybody knows, when you're with your friends, the time flies. That time also did fly, like it was nothing, but it was an amazing time.

“[Moving] is a big step, because I was quite close to home. Every weekend I was home, so that made it maybe a little bit easier, but it was still a difficult period. When I first came into Germany, the first months living on your own in a different country where they don't speak the same language as you, then it's always difficult, but it's all about the football.”

Engels’ move to Celtic has been made smoother by the warm welcome he has received from his current team-mates. “It's a really nice group and everybody is nice to each other and speaks to each other, so it's not that they are like groups or something,” added Engels. “It's just a real team. I had a really warm welcome when I came here and it feels really familiar here.”