These two clubs were once regular members of knockout stages in the European competitions. Now, we rarely see them go this far. Precisely because of that, they have a unique chance to make a notable result this year if to eliminate its opponent. The Celts have one of the loudest fans in the world, and an incredible atmosphere behind them, while Valencia has the advantage of the rematch at home. The Spanish team is favored to get out as a winner from this matchup, but that doesn’t have to mean anything.
Celtic advanced from the Group B as the second-placed team, only because RB Leipzig couldn’t win in Norway against Rosenborg in the last round. They didn’t deserve this all by themselves, that is for sure. In recent times, the Celts are dominating in Scottish competitions, but those are much weaker than the one this game belongs to. Valencia ruined their chances of reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League not being able to defeat Young Boys, which allowed for Manchester United to rise up and snap the second place in that assembly.
The home team has seven straight wins when looking at all the competitions. In those seven matches, they haven’t allowed a single goal. But all of them were against the teams from Scotland, and we do know that Celtic doesn’t have a proper rival there. There is also one more thing to be added. Only one game during that span hasn’t been played at home. In the group stage of RL, Brendan Rodgers’ boys recorded three wins and three losses with a goal difference of 8:9. Their game is physical and demands a lot of contacts, but if you take the ball from them and seize the possession, they are pretty inferior upfront.
The Bats are one of the most inconsistent teams we know this year. They provide results which nobody expects. For example, stay undefeated at Old Trafford and then fail to beat Young Boys. Or the more recent one. Get a draw against Barcelona at Camp Nou, snap a point in the last seconds versus Betis also away from home, and then play 0:0 in front of own crowd against Sociedad. When not playing at Mestalla, they perform pretty poorly, Previous 10 road trip saw only two wins with five losses, but the trend we noticed is that they both score and concede. Only one in the last seven contests didn’t see that.
Almost half of Celtic’s squad is on the injury list. Rodgers has a huge headache because of that. Forrest and Tierney are available after their injuries, but Izaguirre, Ntcham, Edouard, Benkovic, Leigh Griffiths and Ralston are all listed doubtful. That is almost half of the starting lineup. Tom Rogic is definitely ruled out, same as long-time injured Arzani and Eboue. For the guests, only Gabriel Paulista has certain problems, and he is questionable.
Some 39 years ago, back in 1980, these two sides participated in Uefa Cup, in the second round. They split one win apiece, but Eintracht advanced to the next round because they won 3:0, losing the first leg in Ukraine, 0:1.
Home team’s win is 3.50, while Valencia to do the same is 2.05. A draw is 3.40.
If a quarter of the above-mentioned players don’t play for the hosts, the Spanish club will have a massive chance to decide this matchup already in Glasgow. Still, this is Valencia, as we said, an odd team with huge oscillations. If this were any other team who reached here from the Champions League, we would put everything we have on their win, but since this is the case, don’t put too much cash on them. A safer bet is under 2.5 goals. Celtic isn’t very good up front, Valencia will stall the game and try to lower the tempo, and that inevitably leads to a low-scoring affair. Therefore, our choice, Celtic – Valencia 0:1.