UEFA Champions League: Celtic vs. RB Leipzig Preview, Odds, Prediction

Celtic is back against the wall and has no other option but to win and collect three points against RB Leipzig. That is the only way for them to stay in the race for the knockout stage, otherwise, the Hoops are in deep trouble. On the other side, things aren’t great for the Bulls as well, because they sit under the red line along with the Celtics, having three points earned against the Scottish champs last week. The guests, too, are in desperate need of a victory here.

Preview

Celtic (+220) beat St. Johnstone on the road this Saturday, following a thriller in the stoppage time that saw the hosts leveling the score in the 90+3 and the Hoops netting a game-winner two minutes later.

Now, we can’t be dishonest and say that Celtic deserved to win, because they didn’t. Postecoglou’s crew seemed disorganized when having the ball, and creativity is one of the weakest links in the Celtic’s game. St. Johnstone had only 25% of the time but managed to create many problems for Potecoglou’s crew.

Their form is on the decline, and this is the only second win for them in the past six games, though both happened over the last two weeks. The defense is terrible, not keeping a clean sheet in the previous six encounters, sometimes looking far below the expected level.

RB Leipzig (+110) had back-to-back wins until Saturday, when they played 1-1 in Mainz, proving that this team is one of the most inconsistent in Europe. RB either amazes the fans with its performance or totally disappoints them. Just as they seem to fire up and start pounding, something like this happens.

Don’t get us wrong, Mainz is a good team, but we did expect to see the Bulls winning here. They have superstars like Nkunku and Werner, who don’t respond well when teams have tight defenses near the box or inside but present an unstoppable force in the counter-attack.

RB’s defense is poor right now, allowing at least a goal in six of the last eight games, and it has been the main reason for all the losses and disappointments this season.

Latest News

Ideguchi, Starfelt and Turnbull are all out for this matchup, while Carter-Vickers and Mooy stand as questionable, and their status needs to be monitored.

On the other side, Gulasci, Klostermann, Laimer and Olmo are all unavailable for the guests due to injuries.

Head to Head Games

The first game in Leipzig saw the hosts beating the Hoops 3-1, very confidently and without trouble. The Bulls were up three goals, at one moment, with two disallowed goals due to a VAR system check, meaning they completely outplayed the rivals.

Prediction

We will take RB here, because of their style of play. Celtic will have to attack and be offensive, which suits the Germans perfectly, as they have arguably the best counter-attack in Europe. Nkunku and Werner are ultra-fast, and in the moments once they have an open field ahead of them, the chances to see RB scoring are extremely high. Due to all this, we will back up the guests to win, with the odds at +110, which is excellent.

Pick: RB Leipzig +110

Here are more UEFA Champions League previews:

• AC Milan vs. Chelsea
• Barcelona vs. Inter Milan
• Rangers vs. Liverpool
• PSG vs. Benfica