Scottish side Celtic welcome Danish outfit FC Midtjylland to Celtic Park on Tuesday for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League qualifier.
Both clubs enter into the second round of qualifying for the 2021/22 Champions League campaign after finishing as runners-up in their respective domestic leagues last term.
80’ - Into the final ten.🟢 Murray booked for a challenge on a Preston forward. 🟡 The resulting free-kick goes wide.🟢 O'Connor, Robertson and Coffey come on for Ralston, Shaw and McGregor.🟢 Abada and Rogic with efforts, both come close.🍀0⃣-1️⃣🟡#CELPNE | #COYBIG— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 17, 2021
80’ - Into the final ten.🟢 Murray booked for a challenge on a Preston forward. 🟡 The resulting free-kick goes wide.🟢 O'Connor, Robertson and Coffey come on for Ralston, Shaw and McGregor.🟢 Abada and Rogic with efforts, both come close.🍀0⃣-1️⃣🟡#CELPNE | #COYBIG
Celtic’s most recent competitive match came all the way back in mid-May, with a goalless draw against Hibernian sealing their fate.
As a result, the Bhoys ended up a finishing a whopping 25 points behind bitter rivals Rangers in the Scottish Premiership table.
Since then, Celtic have played four pre-season friendlies in July – registering two wins, one draw and one loss in the process.
After bearing Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton, the Hoops drew with Bristol City before losing to Preston North End last time out.
As for Midtjylland, their domestic season has already begun. However, they didn’t get off to the best of starts last Friday.
Despite enjoying 57% possession and chalking up 15 shots, the Wolves suffered a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Odense Boldklub.
Having missed out on the Danish Superliga title by just a single point last season, Midtjylland will surely be disappointed to have kicked off the new campaign with a loss.
The Danish side played three pre-season friendlies before Friday’s curtain-raiser, picking up two wins and one defeat along the way.
It is worth pointing out that Midtjylland have scored in each of their last 11 matches in all competitions, although they have failed to keep a clean sheet in their previous four.
Head-to-head: Tuesday’s game will be the first meeting between Celtic and Midtjylland, meaning there are no previous results to analyse for this fixture.
Team news: Celtic have made four new signings during the summer transfers window, bringing in Kyogo Furuhashi, Leil Abada, Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide.
The Scottish don’t have any injury concerns at the moment, giving new head coach Ange Postecoglou plenty of options.
On the flip side, Midtjylland will be without injured duo Valdemar Birkso and Aral Simsir for Tuesday’s first leg.
Given that Midtjylland started their domestic campaign on a sour note at the weekend, Celtic are likely to take advantage on Tuesday.
With that in mind, Forebet predicts that Celtic will score over 2.5 goals and keep a clean sheet on their way to dispatching the Danish side.