On Thursday night, Scottish champions Celtic host Sparta Prague at Celtic Park in Group H of the Europa League, as the hosts look to get their European campaign back on track.
Celtic have hit an uncharacteristic run of poor form of late. The Hoops recorded a 2-0 cup win against Aberdeen, but the win ended a four-game winless run for the Scottish giants, which by their high standards is unusual.
🛫 David Hancko is also travelling to Scotland with the team! On the other hand, Matěj Hanousek and Milan Heča are not with us due to health problems. #acsparta #UEL pic.twitter.com/DsghAy4Nzx— AC Sparta Prague (@ACSparta_EN) November 4, 2020
🛫 David Hancko is also travelling to Scotland with the team! On the other hand, Matěj Hanousek and Milan Heča are not with us due to health problems. #acsparta #UEL pic.twitter.com/DsghAy4Nzx
That poor run of form has included failing to win either of their two games in the Europa League group stage. Neil Lennon’s team kicked off their European campaign with a 3-1 home defeat by Milan before a more respectable 2-2 draw at Lille last time out. The result gives the home side some catching up to do to make the knockout stages of the competition. However, a win here would put them back in the race for qualification.
Celtic have a distinctly mixed recent home record in the Europa League, as the Hoops have won five and lost four of their previous nine matches at Celtic Park.
Sparta Prague’s last two competitive games have been in this competition, as they have gone down to a 4-1 home defeat to Lille before suffering a 3-0 defeat against Milan.
The results came on the back of a positive start to the domestic campaign for the team from the Czech capital, as they had headed into the Lille game on a five-game domestic winning run.
The losing start to their group campaign will not come as much of a surprise to many, as Sparta have a woeful recent record in European football’s secondary competition. In fact, they have won just one of their previous 11 games in the competition.
Forebet predicts that Celtic will record a win in a high-scoring clash to kick-start their European campaign.