CELTIC welcome RB Leipzig to a Parkhead cauldron on Tuesday and will be brimming with confidence after their best display of the season.
The Scottish champions have been neck and neck with Aberdeen at the top of the Premiership this season and the sides met in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Hampden,
But when Celtic turn up and are in the mood, there is certainly no club in Scotland who can live with them and they absolutely blew the Dons away in a 6-0 rout.
In truth, there are few clubs in Europe who would relish playing Celtic in Glasgow in this mood and the hosts can also take confidence from a limp display from Leipzig at the weekend.
They lost their unbeaten Bundesliga to an injury-ravaged Borussia Dortmund team and seemed to freeze on the big stage.
Manager Marco Rose complained about their ‘lack of courage' in big games after the match and that will be music to the ears of the hosts.
And Leipzig have surprisingly lost all three games in their Champions League campaign, although they were to Atletico Madrid, Juventus and Liverpool.
However, Celtic did get thumped 7-1 in their last game against Germans…by Dortmund.
How the bookies view it? Unusual for Celtic to be underdogs at home
Celtic are currently 23/10 at home with William Hill and that's a price that could tempt plenty in.
RB Leipzig are solid favourites in Glasgow at 11/10 with Paddy Power. The draw is 14/5 with bet365.
Recent head to heads: Leipzig on top
The teams have met twice before on two-legged ties in Europe and the Germans have won three out of four including a Parkhead win two years ago,
Players to watch: Maeda the man
Japanese international Daizen Maeda was almost unplayable on Saturday night and he ran amok with a hat-trick. He is a tempting 4/1 to score anytime with William Hill.
Lois Openda is RB Leipzig's star man and the Belgian made his return to action at the weekend after a short-term injury. He's already on six goals for the season and is 9/5 to score anytime with UniBet.
Predicted line-ups:
Celtic had a fulls-trength team out against Aberdeen and it would be far from a surprise if Brendan Rodgers sent out the exact same team.
RB are set to be without David Raum, Xaver Schlager, Xavi Simons, Nicolas Seiwald, Forzan Assan Ouedraogo and Castello Lukeba.
Celtic: Schmeichel, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Trusty, Valle, McGregor, Engels, Hatate, Kuhn, Kyogo, Maeda.
RB Leipzig: Gulacsi, Geertruida, Orban, Klostermann, Henrichs, Baumgartner, Haidara, Kampl, Nusa, Sesko, Openda.
Anything else catch the eye?
Celtic are crying out to be backed here at a tremendous price for their home game.
As RB Leipzig's own manager admitted, the visitors seem to have problems adapting to the occasion and there's no doubt the home fans will be well up for this.
Manager Rodgers proved he could adapt his tactics after an impressive goalless draw at Atalanta and they did of course score five goals at home in their opening Champions League game against an albeit inferior opponent in Slovan Bratislava.
They will try and exploit the flanks and play with plenty of width as they always do at home. That should lead to plenty of corners. You can get odds-against for five or more, but let's push the boat out and go for six or more with UniBet at 9/5 which looks a terrific price.
This UEFA Champions League match between Celtic and RB Leipzig will be played on Nov 5, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Celtic vs RB Leipzig prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
