CELTIC face a daunting Champions League task when they travel to Italy for their third game in the group against Atalanta.
It's been a tournament of two extremes for the Scottish champions, They started in spectacular style with a 5-1 hammering of Slovan Bratislava, but were well and truly brought down to earth when they were battered by Borussia Dortmund in a 7-1 disaster.
And the big question for this game is whether Brendan Rodgers will change his tactics and at least partly park the bus when they go to Bergamo.
Atalanta started their campaign with a goalless home draw against Arsenal and showed their class with a 3-0 win in neutral Germany against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Domestically, Celtic were jolted at the weekend after throwing away a two-goal lead in a top-of-the-table clash with Aberdeen which was the first points they've dropped all season.
Alarmingly, they were spooked when Aberdeen pulled a goal back and looked highly suspect when Aberdeen pressed and attacked.
Atalanta were in action on Sunday in Serie A and cruised to a comfortable win at Venezia to put them in the top six.
How the bookies view it: Atalanta big things in Bergamo
Atalanta are 4/9 favourites with bet365 which is perhaps not as short as you would imagine.
Celtic can be backed at 13/2 with William Hill and the draw is 4/1 with UniBet.
Recent head to heads: First ever meeting
The teams will meet for the first time on Wednesday.
Players to watch: Lookman worth a look
Ademola Lookman netted in Atalanta's last game in the Champions League and the Nigerian international has a better scoring rate that one in two for games when he starts. He is 13/10 to score anytime on Wednesday with bet365.
Celtic may opt for the physicality of Adam Idah here after Kyogo Furuhashi produced an anonymous performance in Dortmund, The Irish international is 11/4 with bet365 to net anytime.
Predicted line-ups:
Atalanta will be missing several top players including Giorgio Scalvini, Rafael Toloi , Odilon Kossounou, Berat Djimsiti, Matteo Ruggeri and Marco Brescianini.
Celtic could really do with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Grey Taylor back in defence but both are doubts.
Atalanta: Carnesecchi, De Roon, Hien, Kolasinac, Bellanova, Ederson, Pasalic, Zappacosta, De Ketelaere, Lookman; Retegui.
Celtic: Schmeichel, Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Valle, McGregor, Engels, Hatate, Kuhn, Idah, Maeda.
Anything else catch the eye?
It's hard to escape the obvious conclusion that this will be another tough night for Celtic in Europe…especiallyif Rodgers sticks to his attacking principles which he has stressed he will.
As Dortmund showed, Celtic go to pieces on a higher level if pressed into mistakes and Aberdeen had plenty of joy doing just that at the weekend – Atalanta are on a different level.
Defensively, Celtic look seriously troubled with the rock-like presence of Cameron Carter-Vickers, but even if he does make it, how fit will he be after missing a few weeks?
The big-hitters will pile into Atalanta at 4/9 and no wonder. But they should also be backed half time and full time at 6/5 with Boylesports and you've got to like the look of a home win and over 3.5 goals at 2/1 with Paddy Power.
Of course, Celtic nearly always score and they will attack here, so an Atalanta win and both teams to score at 17/10 with Boylesports looks like value too.
This UEFA Champions League match between Atalanta and Celtic will be played on Oct 23, 2024 and kick off at 17:45. Check below for our tipsters best Atalanta vs Celtic prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
