Martin O'Neill has explained the inclusion of James Forrest as one of four changes to the Celtic side to face Ferencvaros.
Changes to the XI were expected after a very underwhelming display and result against Rangers at the weekend.
Those have come in the shape of Viljami Sinisalo, Oliver Sorensen, Haissem Hassan and Forrest replacing Sam Johnstone, Benjamin Nygren, Sebastien Tounekti and Kasper Hogh.
O'Neill was asked whether those decisions were about freshening things up amid a busy schedule.
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He told the Celtic Player: "I think, in terms of balancing things, there are one or two players who deserve an opportunity.
"For instance, James starts tonight. He has been an impact player for us and has been really terrific in that time. We have to give him a chance now to start a game.
"Will he last out the match? We do not know. He is 35 years of age, or whatever the case may be, but he has been a great player.
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"There are a couple of things we have done tonight. Some players deserve to start in the side, James being one of them. Let us go and see how it goes."
The 74-year-old expects to see a response from his men, adding: Y"es, of course. I think it is the start of the Europa League. We have some home games to start with — three out of the first four — and it is really the home form that you have to try to make as strong as possible.
Last season, I came into it when some of the home form might not have been as strong as that. We had a lot of away games to deal with. Those were difficult, I must admit, even though we got some decent results in Feyenoord and Bologna.
Overall, this is the start of a new competition tonight. We will try to win it. I think there is always extra incentive when you have lost the game beforehand."
