Celtic v SK Slovan Bratislava Betting Tips [18 September 2024]
Football - Champions League
18 September 2024 14:00
The match
Following an impressive run in the qualifiers, Slovan Bratislava booked their place in the league stage of the Champions League. Their journey starts off in Glasgow, with a match against Celtic in Round 1. Read on for our prediction of this Wednesday encounter.
Hosts Celtic have had a barnstorming start to the season, and come into this game unbeaten in six matches. Their 2-0 victory against Hearts on Saturday marked their sixth win in as many matches in this campaign and 12th in a row.
The Scottish champions have also done well defensively, conceding just once in 2024/25 thus far. Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers’ side scored at least two goals in each of their first six matches this season. They will hope this form carries them to a better run in Europe after struggling last season.
For the first time in their history, Slovan Bratislava are playing a Champions League game in September. That is a pointer that this is already their best campaign in the competition.
The Slovakian side has never played past the qualifiers, and are here courtesy of a run of five wins at the qualifying stage. In the playoff round, they eliminated Danish giants Midtjylland 4-3 on aggregate. That feat means in the next four months they will face among other teams Manchester City, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid.
The visitors warmed up for this game with two straight wins, recovering from their 5-0 home loss to Zilina. Most recently, they defeated DAC 1904 2-1 on Saturday.
Key Statistics
- Celtic’s six matches this season have produced 18 goals.
- Slovan Bratislava’s last five games produced 20 goals in total.
- Each of Slovan Bratislava’s last four matches produced over 2.5 goals.
- In three of four home matches this season, Celtic scored at least three goals.
- An average of 2.5 goals were realized in Slovan’s last five Champions League matches.
The bet of our experts
Slovan Bratislava have unlocked a new level in their history by going past the Champions League qualification stages. There aren’t many guarantees that things will be easier at this stage and that starts with the Celtic game.
Here they face a free-scoring side, as Celtic continue with their powerful start to the season. The Slovakian side is also doing well in attack and will seek to extend that here.
With both coming from high-scoring matches, our prediction for Celtic v Slovan Bratislava is for over 2.5 goals to be scored.
