Glasgow Celtic vs Real Madrid – Preview
Glasgow Celtic vs Real Madrid – Tuesday 6th, 8pm, Celtic Park, Glasgow
Celtic kick off this season’s Champions League endeavour at Celtic Park, with their first appearance since 2017 as they come up against the current holders, it’s over 10 years since they last met and that was in the International Champions Cup where Madrid won 2-0.
The only other time they’ve met was the more memorable European Cup quarter-final of 1980, where Celtic took a 2-0 lead to the Bernabeu only to lose the return leg 3-0. Two giant clubs with fanbases to match anyone in the world going head-to-head, this should be a mouth-watering clash.
The Hoops sit pretty at the top of the Scottish Premiership having scored 25 times and conceded only once so far, destroying their derby rivals Rangers 4-0 at the weekend, and putting themselves 5 points clear. So, they couldn’t be in a more buoyant mood going into this game and with a packed Parkhead behind them it’s not going to be easy for a Madrid side, who most football fans would say were the far superior team. Parkhead has proved one the hardest ground to visit in European football over the last 10 years, few sides walk away with points, this Madrid team however will fancy their chances.
Madrid also tops La Liga and after 4 games still hold a 100%-win record, but Celtic might find confidence from the fact that Madrid has conceded once in all those games. Real’s new signings have fitted in superbly with Rudiger, Tchouameni and Rodrygo all putting in stellar performances to contribute massively to their good start.
It’s going to be touch and go for Furuhashi and Starfelt whom both came off injured against Rangers, so might be unable to help Celtic try and preserve their 27-game unbeaten run, with their only blip being a draw against Rangers eventually getting knocked out of the Scottish Cup in extra time. Real are in full fitness having no injury worries to note.
Key stats
- Celtic 8 straight wins, scoring 31 times
- Real’s 4 wins so far have all been BTTS
- Both sides have 100% league records
- Celtic 50%, Real 55% BTTS over the last 20 matches
- Celtic 20%, Real 80% BTTS over the last 5 matches
Celtic should get something out of this and with the crowd behind them, it’ll give them that extra bit needed to pull something off. A 1-1 draw would be a magic result for the Hoops.
