IT'S another fascinating night in the Champions League with 10 more sides trying to qualify for the group stage.

Last night Man City showed their class with a 5-0 romp in Romania and Monchengladbach proved it was men against Young Boys as they won 3-1 in Switzerland – the other there ties are in the balance.

Tonight some big names are involved and there will be some big clubs falling into the Europa League.

So let's start with Celtic v Hapoel Beer Sheva. Brendan Rodgers was brought in for two reasons – see off Rangers and qualify for the Champions League.

We'll know the answer to the second one soon and after a false start it's gone well for the Irishman in the qualifiers.

Red Imps and Astana haven't been seen off with the greatest of ease but Celtic are improving with every game.

Up front Scott Sinclair has added a bit of quality and at the back Efe Ambrose has finally been dumped with Eoghan O'Connell coming of age and Kolo Toure adding experience. Erik Sviatchenko may return tonight but if not O'Connell will keep his place.

At this stage of the competition there are no easy games but Celtic should be able to take care of Hapoel Beer Sheva.

The Israelis are a hard-working, well-organised side who dumped Olympiakos in the last round and that result has to be respected.

But with Sinclair on board and Leigh Griffiths already in the goals Celtic should take a lead to Israel – and that might be enough to get the job done.

Celtic are a best 4-6 at William Hill to win tonight and 11-20 with sportingbet to qualify. The Israelis are 7-4 with Coral to make it to the group stage.

Griffiths is 18-5 at McBookie to break the deadlock while Sinclair is 7-1 at McBookie. To score Griffiths is 11-10 at McBookie while Sinclair is 12-5 with the Scots firm.

There's always a worry Celtic will concede as they did in Gibraltar and at home to Astana but Hapoel are not a high-scoring side and a home win to nil is 13-8 at McBookie.

Suggestions from the camp are they'll sit in and try to frustrate Celtic so under 2.5 goals looks a shout at 43-40 with bet365.

Team of the tournament have been Stephen Kenny's Dundalk who face Legia Warsaw for a dream spot in the groups.

The Irish champions shocked BATE 3-0 at home in the previous round and face the Poles in front of a massive crowd at Dublin's Aviva Stadium

They're massive underdogs and Legia are 1-1 at McBookie to win on the night and just 1-6 to qualify. Dundalk are 14-5 with 16-5 at Betfred to win tonight and 9-2 to qualify.

For me this is a match too far for a side that have battled brilliantly to reach this stage. Taking the game to a huge stadium will play into the hands of the Poles who are much better than BATE and the Belarusians outshot the Irish 34-14 but had no cutting edge.

Legia have goals in them and Hungarian striker Nemanja Nikolic could be the man who makes the difference. He is 18-5 at McBookie to score first and 10-7 at 888sport to net at anytime.

Two of the biggest ties are Porto v Roma and Villarreal v Monaca and while neither are easy to call the home sides are strong in front of their fans.

Porto have won seven of their last nine Champions League home ties and started the season with a 3-1 win at Rio Ave while Roma have only played friendlies. They've sold star man Miralem Pjanic to Juventus and I'd side with Porto at 13-10 with Betfred although both sides could score at 1-1 with boylesports.

Valencia beat Monaco 4-3 on aggregate at this stage last summer and there could be goals again when the French side return to Spain. Both to score pays 23-20 at William Hill.

The final tie sees Ludogerets face Viktoria Plzen with the match moved to Sofia. There isn't much between two sides who both won on away goals in the previous round.

The Bulgarians are missing a couple of players but while they battled past Red Star Belgrade it was Qarabag who Plzen drew twice with and Ludogerets look the stronger side. Take them at 13-10 with bet365.

Bets to Consider

Celtic to win to nil

Legia Warsaw

Nikolic to score

Porto & btts

Villarreal v Monaco btts

Ludogerets

Leagues Tipped:
3 Comments
  1. maccathered 8 years ago

    Theres no way celtic will stop hapoel from scoring even with toure this is why i think 11/2 for hapoel to win is massive.

  2. jazzerbhoy 8 years ago

    If this was last season I would have agreed with you.
    The loss of Paddy Roberts, Eric, would have been a disaster.
    But this is a different side now,with a belief. Dembele and Sinclair bring much needed movement and pace.
    I think Celtic will win,and to nil 3-0.
    Lustig anytime 7/1 and FGS 20/1.

  3. chris guy 8 years ago

    CELTIC VS HAPOEL TIPS

    MIKAEL LUSTIG FIRST GOALSCORER @ 33/1

    MIKAEL LUSTIG ANYTIME GOALSCORER @ 13/1

    Good luck everyone

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