Football betting tips: Champions League
3pts Over 2.5 goals and both teams to score at 20/21 (bet365)
0.5pts Both teams to score in both halves at 11/1 (bet365)
BuildABet @ 60/1
- Both teams to score in both halves
- Sehrou Guirassy to score anytime
- Callum McGregor to be carded
Celtic have made a faultless start to the campaign.
Nine games in and it is nine wins for Brendan Rodgers’ side. They top the Premiership after six games and are yet to concede a goal, they are also through to the League Cup semi-finals, thrashed St. Johnstone 6-0 at the weekend and won their opening Champions League game 5-1 against Slovan Bratislava.
The trip to Dortmund is their toughest test of the season so far.
The Hoops are 5/1 to win at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday, they were 4/11 to win on matchday one and for context, Slovan Bratislava are ranked 186th by Opta’s Power Rankings, Dortmund are 12th and Celtic are 52nd.
That is not to say Celtic cannot bloody the nose of the hosts. How can you write-off a side that has scored at least five goals in each of their last three games.
What are the best bets?
Dortmund are having some teething issues to the Nuri Sahin era, topping the charts for errors leading to shots or goals (4) in the Bundesliga and this goes a little way to explaining the fact they have scored five across the last two games and conceded seven goals.
In their Champions League opener against Club Brugge, the 3-0 scoreline flattered Dortmund as the German side were outshot 18-17 and created the same number of ‘big chances’ (xG greater than 0.30) as the Belgians.
Domestically, Dortmund’s opening five games have averaged four goals so at a shade of even money backing OVER 2.5 GOALS AND BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE appeals on Tuesday.
Considering both sides' records this term, I also think the 11/1 about BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE IN BOTH HALVES is worth a tout at 11/1.
Although this bet has only clicked in one of the sides' combined 16 games, the angle is more about their attacking intent. Between them, they have netted in both halves of two thirds of their games this term.
Team news
Giovanni Reyna is Sahin’s only confirmed absence. Marcel Sabitzer will be assessed ahead of Tuesday’s match after missing out on Friday’s win over Bochum.
Serhou Guirassy will spearhead the hosts' attack after hitting a rich vein of form netting four times in the last three games.
Brendan Rodgers is sweating on the fitness of Cameron Carter-Vickers. If the centre-back recovers, Celtic will have a full complement of players to pick from.
After netting twice at the weekend, Kyogo Furuhashi should lead the line for the visitors flanked by Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn.
Predicted line-ups
Dortmund: Kobel; Ryerson, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini; Gross, Can; Adeyemi, Brandt, Gittens; Guirassy.
Celtic: Schmeichel; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; Engels, McGregor, Hatate; Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda.
Match facts
- This will be Borussia Dortmund’s fifth meeting in major European competition with Celtic (W3 L1), with the German outfit winning all of their last three against the Bhoys and with all four previous meetings coming in the UEFA Cup (1987/88 &1992/93).
- Celtic have never won a UEFA Champions League match against German opponents (P8 D2 L6), losing all of their last four such matches in the competition. Borussia Dortmund will be the fourth different German side Celtic have faced after FC Bayern München (P4 D1 L3), Borussia Mönchengladbach (P2 D1 L1) and RB Leipzig (P2 L2).
- Borussia Dortmund come into this clash on an 11-match unbeaten streak at home in the UEFA Champions League (W7 D4), keeping eight clean sheets during this run. This is already Dortmund’s longest ever home unbeaten run in the competition.
- Celtic have lost all of their last five away matches in the UEFA Champions League and failed to win any of their last eight such matches (D1 L7). In fact, the last time the Bhoys won their first away match of a Champions League campaign was back in September 2017 – beating RSC Anderlecht 3-0 in what was their only win of the 2017/18 campaign.
- Following their 3-0 win over Club Brugge on MD1, Borussia Dortmund could start with a victory and a clean sheet in their opening two games of a UEFA Champions League campaign for the first time since 2018-19. In that case, the German side also won and kept a clean sheet away to Club Brugge in their opening game (1-0).
- After winning their final game in 2023-24 (v Feyenoord) and opener in 2024-25 (v Slovan Bratislava), Celtic will be looking to win three consecutive matches in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League for the first time since October 1986 (also a run of three).
- Three different players came off the bench for Borussia Dortmund and either scored or assisted against Club Brugge last time out, with Jamie Gittens scoring twice, Serhou Guirassy once and Felix Nmecha making an assist. Indeed, this was the first time as many as three different Dortmund substitutes had all directly contributed to a goal in a UEFA Champions League game.
- Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi both got on the scoresheet for Celtic on MD1 (v Slovan Bratislava), the first time in UEFA Champions League history that two Japanese players had scored in the same match for a team.
- Despite only coming on as a 68 th -minute substitute against Club Brugge on MD1, Jamie Gittens scored two of his team’s three goals in a 3-0 win. Indeed, this was the fewest minutes played by a Borussia Dortmund player to score a brace in a UEFA Champions League match (22).
- Arne Engels scored and assisted on his UEFA Champions League debut for Celtic last time out (v Slovan Bratislava), becoming the youngest player to do so for a Scottish club in the competition (21y 10d).
Odds correct at 1440 BST (30/09/24)
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