Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava betting tips, BuildABet, best bets and preview
Football betting tips: Champions League
1pt Arne Engels to score anytime at 5/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power)
BuildABet @ 12/1
- Arne Engels to score anytime
- Alistair Johnston to commit 2+ fouls
- 6+ Celtic corners
Celtic were a feature of my outright preview for the new-look Champions League campaign - a belief they have enough about them to secure a spot in the round of 16 play-offs.
A big part of that is the need for a victory here. They play four of their eight games in front of their own supporters and anything less than three points here could have serious implications on their ability to finish as one of the 24 best teams from the 36 involved.
The bookmakers believe they'll do the job with 2/5 the biggest price available on a home win. The coefficient may have the visitors sitting higher but there's more than enough within this Celtic side to kick their campaign off in the best possible fashion.
The Asian Handicap currently has Celtic as -1.5 favourites, the same as Real Madrid who face Stuttgart and PSG who come up against Girona. That's the level of confidence the money has in a home win.
What are the best bets?
I'd have little issues therefore in including the Scottish champions within my midweek accumulator. Perhaps there's even a little bit of 'accumulator value' (if there's such a phrase) with Real at 1/4 the day before.
Home games in this competition last season for Celtic delivered a win over Feyenoord and a draw against Atletico Madrid in two of their three home group games - tougher challengers than they will face this time around.
That's particularly true of Wednesday night. With respect to their opponents, they sit top of the Slovakian top-flight but it's tricky to see where their Champions League points come from this season.
There is enough appeal in the 5/1 available on ARNE ENGELS TO SCORE ANYTIME given the hosts' expected dominance - he found the net in the win over Hearts last time out.
I'd take no lower than 3s on this pick but his role on Saturday suggests he is going to be a big part of their attack. After all, he was brought in to replace the influential Matt O'Riley who departed for Brighton.
His first start for the club saw him in and around the box often. It looks as if he will be the furthest forward of Celtic's expected three-man midfield.
Perhaps crucially for a goalscorer pick, Engels' effort came from the penalty spot. Should they get one here, he is more than likely to step up again.
That was one of four efforts from the midfielder - all of which came inside the area with another hitting the post - and he may well see a similar level of returns here given the opposition.
Team news
Celtic were boosted by the return of centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers at the weekend following an injury scare that saw him absent from training and he is in line for another start on Wednesday.
Right-back Alastair Johnston was also back in time, as was other full-back Greg Taylor while James Forrest is expected to take up a spot on the bench.
Engels was handed his first start following his £11m summer move from Augsburg and his performance suggested no issues in adjusting to his new club.
Predicted line-ups
Celtic XI: Schmeichel; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; McGregor, Hatate, Engels; Kuhn, Kyogo, Maeda.
Slovan Bratislava XI: Takac; Blackman, Kashia, Bajric, Wimmer; Szoke, Kucka; Barseghyan, Tolic, Weiss; Strelec.
Match facts
- Celtic and Slovan Bratislava have faced on two previous occasions, with both of those meetings coming in the quarter-final of the 1963-64 Cup Winners’ Cup. The Scottish side won both legs by a 1-0 scoreline, before being eliminated in the semi-final by MTK Budapest (3-4 on aggregate).
- Slovan Bratislava’s last victory over a British side in major European competition was in September 1975, beating Derby County 1-0 in the first round of the European Cup (first leg). Since then, they have played nine such matches and failed to win all of them (D2 L7), including defeats in each of the last five.
- This will be the 28th edition of the European Cup that Celtic have been involved in, with Manchester United (30) being the only British team to appear in more (Liverpool also on 28, as of 2024-25).
- Slovan Bratislava have qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time, becoming just the fourth Slovakian side to play in the competition, after FC VSS Kosice in 1997/98, FC Petrzalka 1898 in 2005/06 and MSK Zilina in 2010/11 (all of whom went out at the group stage).
- Celtic have never won their opening game of a UEFA Champions League campaign, drawing two and losing 10 of those. Indeed, they’ve not scored a goal in their opening match since 2006-07, in a 2-3 defeat away to Manchester United.
- Slovakian teams have won just one of their 18 matches in the UEFA Champions League, with that sole win coming for FC Petrzalka 1898 in September 2005 away at FC Porto, a 3-2 win, when they were managed by current Slovan Bratislava manager Vladimír Weiss.
- Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has won just 13% of his games in the UEFA Champions League (W3 D6 L15); the lowest win percentage of any manager with 20+ matches in the competition.
- Celtic conceded the most goals of any side between the 75th and 90th minute (not including added time) in the UEFA Champions League last season (6), while also failing to score themselves in that period.
- Celtic midfielder Paulo Bernardo averaged 86.5 high-intensity pressures per 90 in the UEFA Champions League last season; the most of any player in the tournament (min. 300 minutes played).
- Captain Vladimír Weiss, son of the current Slovan Bratislava manager, has played eight times in the UEFA Champions League previously, featuring three times for Rangers in 2010-11 and five times for Olympiakos in 2013-14. He contributed to a goal on his debut for both clubs – an assist for Rangers vs Valencia and goal for Olympiakos vs PSG.
Odds correct at 1400 BST (16/09/24)
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.