Barcelona v Celtic Betting Preview – UEFA Champions League 13th September
This can’t be a game that Celtic are looking forward too other than for enjoying a big night out at the Nou Camp. They are winless in their last fourteen away games to La Liga clubs and the last time that they went to Barcelona they suffered their joint-heaviest European defeat. Not too surprisingly the Scottish Champions are running as heavy underdogs for the match. Barcelona got stung by a shock defeat in their opening La Liga match on the weekend, but will they turn on the style to open their UEFA Champions League account with this season?
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Barcelona v Celtic Betting Tips
Well this is just about the worst game to get off to a start with in the Champions League for Celtic. It was probably made a little worse by Barcelona losing their opener in the Spanish top flight on the weekend too, going down to a shock loss against Alaves. The Catalans had an eye on this one clearly as they had started that game with Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Luis Suarez on the bench. So Celtic may feel some backlash from that shock loss. These two clubs have faced off against each other eight times before in the UEFA Champions League and Barcelona have won six of those in a W6 D1 L1 record. Celtic’s only win in that sequence came at Parkhead in 2012 despite them only taking 15% possession in the match. Four of the last eleven UEFA Champions League titles have been won by Barcelona and they are on an eleven match winning streak in the competition at home right now. This is under Luis Enrique and they have netted 29 and conceded just 6 in those eleven home games in the competition. If they beat Celtic, they’ll equal Man Utd and Bayern Munich’s record of 12 wins in the competition.
The Catalans are in great UEFA Champions League form in the group stage having won all but two of their last ten group stage games (D2). Not only that, they have netted in 37 of their last 38 Champions League group stage matches so they are likely to get on the board against the Scottish Champions on Tuesday. Lionel Messi is a 1/2 shot in the anytime goalscorer market (although he’s working his way back after an injury), with Luis Suarez at 2/5, Paco Alcacer at 2/3 and Neymar at 10/11. It’s no secret that they have the firepower in them to destroy teams. Neymar’s first Barcelona hat trick incidentally came against Celtic. So the bookmakers are looking at the goals flowing from the home side really and you have an odds on price of 8/11 on over 3.5 goals as further evidence of that. Barcelona have made it to the Champions League semi finals in seven of the last nine seasons, Atletico Madrid being the only ones to stop them on both occasions.
What can Celtic produce in his one then? Well as one positive, is that boss Brendan Rodgers lost just one of his six group stage matches while in charge of Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League. But that’s not likely to stop Celtic’s rot of poor away form in Europe. The Bhoys haven’t won any of their last fourteen away games in Spain in European competition and overall out the road in the UEFA Champions League, Celtic have lost 25 of their 27 games (W1 D1) and have never kept a clean sheet. So they are likely to to concede at the Nou Camp, but can they do anything about getting forward and causing Barcelona problems at the back? They probably won’t, but then Alaves didn’t look to have the tools either. Celtic have Scott Sinclair and Leigh Griffiths up around the 3/1 mark in the anytime goalscorer market, big price and chances are probably going to be at a premium.
For Celtic this is their ninth appearance in the UEFA Champions League and their first return since the 2013/14 season when things didn’t go well for them at all. They have had to battle their way through three qualification rounds to make the group stage this season and that was a squeeze against some lowly opposition. They only managed a poor D1 L2 record out on the road in their three games and netted just the one goal. Barcelona are light years ahead of the kind of opposition that Celtic met in the qualifying rounds such as the Lincoln Red Imps. Also the Bhoys have now failed to earn one clean sheet in their five away games in all competitions this season. Three current form in the UEFA Champions League proper for Celtic is seven defeats in their last eight games in the competition (W1). Celtic also face Man City and Borussia Monchengladbach in the group. They are outsiders to qualify.
Barcelona v Celtic Betting Odds
Barcelona 1/12, Draw 10/1, Celtic 20/1
Barcelona v Celtic Predictions
Big game for Celtic and they are likely to fall short in it. Barcelona will be amped up even more after their surprise defeat in La Liga on the weekend and they can put Celtic, whose defense hasn’t been particularly solid this season, to the sword. Look over 3.5 goals for the game and a flutter on Barcelona to win to nil is an 8/11 tempter.
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