Celtic and RB Leipzig meet in a vital Champions League encounter at Parkhead on Thursday, with the home side angling for their first win in the competition this season. The encounter last week in Germany proved to be a predictably exciting encounter that was decided 3-1 in the favour of the Bundesliga side.
Back in Scotland, though, Celtic will be hopeful of causing an upset that will keep their dreams of progression alive. After successfully landing a bet builder on this fixture last week, here’s our recommended bets this time around.
Celtic v RB Leipzig Bet Builder Tips
Celtic to Win
Celtic may not start this game as favourites but they have a proud record when playing at home in European football and the 3-0 defeat they suffered against Real Madrid earlier in the competition did little justice to the manner in which they pushed the defending champions for long periods.
Furthermore, there is a great deal riding on this game for the hosts. Defeat would effectively end their chance of progression and would leave the forthcoming clash with Shakhtar Donetsk in a fortnight to be something of a playoff to go into the Europa League. That is an eventuality that the Hoops will be desperate to avoid.
Leipzig, meanwhile, have not travelled well this season. The German side have yet to win on their travels in six away games this term, losing four of these. They are notably poorer on the road than they are at home offensively and have netted only three times.
Celtic do not deserve to be such heavy underdogs in this match – and they will have taken heart from the fact that Rangers beat Leipzig 3-1 when they visited Glasgow as recently as May. This is certainly not mission impossible for Ange Postecoglou’s side.
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Prediction: Celtic to Win
Jota to have 2+ Shots on Target
Portuguese winger Jota could be key to Celtic coming back into this tie. The winger already has five goals for the season – including the Hoops’ consolation goal in Leipzig last week. He is a figure who is becoming increasingly pivotal to the Parkhead side’s attacking options, so in a match like this, he can be expected to play 90 minutes unless by chance Celtic run away with the game.
Celtic are increasingly turning towards him as a goal threat, too. In three of the last four matches he has started – against Rangers, Shakhtar Donetsk, Motherwell and Leipzig – he has mustered at least two shots on target. Ironically, it was against Motherwell, by far the weakest opponent of the four, that he fell short of this tally, though even in that match he managed one effort on goal.
There is a strong recent trend of him hitting the target with multiple shots in a single game against high calibre opponents, so expect him to be front and centre of Celtic’s efforts on Tuesday – especially as they could be encouraged to shoot from range against a goalkeeper who will be making his first Champions League start.
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Prediction: Jota to have 2+ Shots on Target
Over 2.5 Goals
With so much on the line between these teams, who love to attack, the expectation is that goals are a certainty. Certainly, there were plenty of scoring opportunities in the first meeting between the sides last week, with the net result being a 3-1 home win.
Celtic have not been as fluent offensively in recent matches as they might have wished, yet they still had the tenacity to overcome Motherwell and St Johnstone in recent games with late goals. On Tuesday, meanwhile, the expectation will be that their players will rise to the occasion of what is arguably their biggest match of the season. After all, if they are going to win, it is likely they will have to score at least twice.
Leipzig showed a capacity to be dangerous in transition last week, when Christopher Nkunku terrorised the Hoops’ rear-guard. If that is repeated, Leipzig are likely to score, even if they have only been scoring at the rate of 0.5 goals per game away from home this season. They will rarely face an opponent as Celtic are likely to be.
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Prediction: Over 2.5 Goals
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Predicted Line-ups
Celtic predicted XI (4-3-3): Hart; Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Jenz, Taylor; Hatate, McCarthy, O’Riley; Maeda, Furuhashi, Jota
RB Leipzig predicted XI (4-5-1): Blaswich; Simakan, Orban, Gvardiol, Raum; Kampl, Schlager; Szoboszlai, Nkunku, Werner; Silva
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing *
How to watch Celtic v RB Leipzig in the Champions League?
📅 When is Celtic v RB Leipzig? / Tuesday, 11th October 2022, 8:00PM
🏟 Where is Celtic v RB Leipzig? / Celtic Park (Glasgow)
📺 What TV channel is Celtic v RB Leipzig on? / BT Sport 3
🟨 …And who is the referee for Celtic v RB Leipzig? / H.U. Meler 🇹🇷
