CELTIC and Manchester City may be set to do battle in the Champions League but the two sides have forged a close professional relationship over the last few seasons.
The Hoops hierarchy have used their link to the Arab-owned Premier League giants to great advantage by securing current City starlet Patrick Roberts on an 18-month loan to Glasgow and also benefited from season-long loans for John Guidetti and Jason Denayer.
Current Hoops stars Kolo Toure , Scott Sinclair and Dedryck Boyata also plied their trade with the Citizens before making the switch to Glasgow's east end.
It's not just in recent times that players have donned the green and white hoops and the sky blue of City though.
Here's five players who played for both clubs during their careers ...
JIM MELROSE
Melrose spent just over a season at Celtic Park after joining the club in August 1983 for a fee of around £100,000 from Partick Thistle .
The striker debuted for the Hoops in a Glasgow Cup loss to Rangers before going on to score on his full debut the following week in a 2-0 win over Hibs at Easter Road.
Melrose went on to make 48 appearances for Celtic - scoring 11 goals, before being loaned out to Wolves for a short but successful spell.
Following Melrose's return from his loan spell in the Black Country, then Man City boss - Hoops legend Billy McNeill - swooped to take Melrose to Maine Road in a £40,000 deal, where the striker helped the club to promotion to the old Football League First Division.
Celtic: 48 appearances, 11 goals
Man City: 32 appearances, 11 goals
MICK McCARTHY
Big Mick joined Celtic in the summer of 1987 from Manchester City and proved to be the final signing by boss Davie Hay - who was sacked only days later.
McCarthy had spent four seasons with the Citizens after moving from Barnsley and won promotion to England's top flight at the first attempt during the 1984-85 season.
The Irish international was quickly reunited with the man who let him leave Maine Road for Glasgow's east end, when Billy McNeill was appointed Hoops boss.
McCarthy made his debut in the green and white in a 2-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund and remained at Celtic under the summer of 1989 when he made a £350,000 switch to French football to join Lyon.
Celtic: 64 appearances, 1 goal
Man City: 163 appearances, 3 goals
GERRY CREANEY
Creaney came through the system at Celtic Park and was prolific playing for the youth and reserve teams before signing a full-time contract in May 1987.
The striker made his debut for the first team in March 1990 in a 0-0 draw with Dunfermline and was in and out of the side, with competition for places up front being competed for by the likes of Tommy Coyne, Andy Payton and Charlie Nicholas.
Injuries hampered Creaney's Parkhead career and he eventually left in January 1994 - joining Portsmouth - where he ound his form and scored 30 goals in 60 appearances.
Creaney's stunning displays for Pompey earned him a move to England's top flight with Man City the following season - in a deal valued around the £1.5m mark - and the former Celt had the perfect start by scoring on his debut in the sky blue.
The good start was soon forgotten though, with only three further goals to come in 21 appearances for the Citizens which led to Creaney being loaned out four times before he left Maine Road to return to St Mirren in 1999.
Celtic: 142 appearances, 55 goal
Man City: 24 appearances, 5 goals
GEORGIOS SAMARAS
Greek international Samaras joined Manchester City in a £6million move from Dutch side Heerenveen in January 2006 and made his debut when he came on as a substitute for Andy Cole in a 3-0 win against Newcastle United the following month.
Samaras made 16 appearances that season and went on to play 41 games the following year, scoring six times for Stuart Pearce's side.
The arrival of Sven-Goran Eriksson at the start of the 2007-08 season saw the Greek deemed surplus to requirements and the big striker made a January loan move to Celtic Park, that also gave the Parkhead side the option to buy the player at the end of the season.
Samaras became a firm favourite amongst the Celtic support during his loan spell and signed a three-year year deal during the summer.
The hairy hitman went on to spent six full seasons in Glasgow winning the Premiership title four times, Scottish Cup twice and the League Cup once.
Celtic: 248 appearances, 74 goal
Man City: 65 appearances, 12 goals
CRAIG BELLAMY
Martin O'Neill swooped to bring Craig Bellamy to Celtic in a surprise six-month loan deal from Newcastle United in January 2005.
The Welsh international had become surplus to requirements at St James' Park following a high-profile fallout with Toon boss Graeme Souness, who stated that the frontman would never again wear a Newcastle jersey.
Bellamy instantly hit it off at Celtic and went on to win his first ever major career trophy when the Hoops lifted the Scottish Cup following a 1-0 Hampden win over Dundee United.
Having proved a success in the green and white, Celtic were left disappointed when the Welshman chose to sign a four-year deal with Blackburn Rovers ahead of a move to Glasgow the following season.
Bellamy then went on to play for Liverpool and West Ham before completing a move, believed to be around £14million, to the Etihad in January 2009.
Scoring the winning goal on his debut - against former employers Newcastle United - Bellamy enjoyed a successful time with the Citizens until the arrival of Roberto Mancini saw him lose favour and eventually go out on loan to boyhood heroes Cardiff City.
Celtic: 15 appearances, 9 goal
Man City: 51 appearances, 15 goals
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