Champions League Football Tips
Sheffield Wednesday beat Barnsley last night to give be a winner though
sadly the saver bet lost as only one goal was scored.
Tonight I am delving into the Champions League and the all important clash
in Group D between Celtic and Shakhtar Donetsk. This is a crucial tie to
see who progresses to the knock out stage, Milan top the Group with 9
points and so a draw in one of their 2 remaining games at Benfica tonight
or at home to Celtic on the final match day should see them through, but
Celtic know they have to win tonight to give them any chance of moving on
in the competition as Shakhtar have their final home game at home to
Benfica.
Celtic have won both their group games so far at home beating Milan 2-1
and Benfica 1-0 whilst Shakhtar have beaten Benfica 1-0 in Portugal and
lost 4-1 at the San Siro to Milan.
I am favouring Celtic tonight due to their fantastic home record in
European competition, at Parkhead in front of 60,000 fanatical fans they
make European nights a magical occasion and Shakhtar will be on the back
foot from the kick off in my opinion, they also will come into this match
on the back of a 3-0 home defeat to Milan in their last Champions League
match so may not be full of confidence.
As I mentioned Celtic have a wonderful home record and this is echoed in
the league where they have won 5 and drawn 1 of their 6 home league games
so far scoring 19 and conceding 0 which highlights nicely the task ahead
of Shakhtar tonight, the only blot on an otherwise perfect home league
record was the 0-0 draw with Kilmarnock on the opening day of the season
back at the beginning of August, since then they have averaged over 3
goals a game at home.
Shakhtar are top of the league and despite my earlier comments are not a
side to be taken lightly. They are top of the Ukraine league 1 point ahead
of surprise side Dnipro and 5 points clear of eternal rivals Dynamo Kiev.
However despite having a core of very talented Brazilians such as Brandao
and Jedson they do not travel well in Europe and as well as the defeat to
Milan as I mentioned earlier they lost 1-0 to Red Bull Salzburg in the
Qualifying Round.
These 2 sides have met 3 times in the Champions League with the home side
winning all 3 encounters Celtic winning 1-0 in November 04 at Parkhead and
Shakhtar winning 3-0 in October 04 and 2-0 in September this year.
Early team news is that Boruc and Hartley will have late fitness tests
after picking up knocks in Saturdays 3-0 win at home to Aberdeen, whilst
Shakhtar should have a full squad to pick from with the exception of
Mexican midfielder Castillo who has fallen out with the coach Lucescu.
As I write Totesport are offering 20/21 on a Celtic win tonight and given
the need for a win and the excellent form Celtic are in especially at home
if feel it is a price worth taking.
Good Luck
Silverfox.
