CELTIC start their Champions League campaign with what should be a very winnable chance to get off to a flier against Slovan Bratislava.
The Hoops' failures in Europe have been a depressing theme for their fans in recent years in contrast to the dominance they are showing in Scottish football.
And the halcyon days of famous home wins over the likes of Barcelona, Manchester United and Juventus have been replaced by regular humiliations by average teams.
But this season, they seem a different beast under Brendan Rodgers and have yet to concede a goal in five domestic league wins so far this season.
However, for such a celebrated manager, Rodgers has an abysmal Champions League record of just three wins out of 24 games in the group stages, mostly with his two spells at Celtic but also with Liverpool.
They face the Slovakian champions who have never been in the group stages.
They had to get past four rounds to get to this stage and beat APOEL and FC Midtjylland as their biggest scalps.
They have won their last two games, but alarm bells should be ringing after a 5-0 home defeat to MSK Zilina earlier this month.
How the bookies view it: Celtic huge favourites
Celtic are as short as 1/3 to win the opener but you can get some 19/50 with bet365.
Slovan Bratislava are 15/2 with UniBet and the draw is 17/4 with Betfred.
Recent head to heads: Celtic's win in the distant past
The sides met in the European Cup Winners Cup quarter finals in 1964 and Celtic won home and away in both legs 1-0.
Players to watch: Engels lives up to his price tag
Celtic's record £11 million signing Arne Engels grabbed his first goal for the club in his second game at the weekend and looks like he will be taking the penalties. The Belgian is 5/1 with Paddy Power to score anytime.
Armenian international winger Tigran Barseghyan has already scored twice in the Champions League qualifiers and netted a double at the weekend. He is 6/1 to score with UniBet.
Predicted line-ups:
Celtic have pretty much a complete squad to choose from and will go into this at full strength.
Slovan Bratislava have a doubt over their manager Vladimir Weiss, who has missed his cub's last two matches with a virus and has to decide ether he is able to travel to Glasgow.
Celtic: Schmeichel, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, McGregor, Engels, Hatate, Kuhn, Kyogo, Maeda.
Slovan Bratislava: Takac, Blackman, Kashia, Wimmer, Vojtko, Bajric, Kucka, Barseghyan, Tolic, Weiss, Mek.
Anything else catch the eye?
Celtic have a terrible Champions League record – their victory against Feyenoord in their last game of the group last season while already out was their first home win in ten years – but they have the tools to beat Bratislava.
They should be brimming with confidence and although they were not as sharp as usual in their weekend win against Hearts, they still got the job done.
They are too short to back as a single, but again the obvious shout here is another win to nil at 11/8 with bet365 having won five out of six games like that this season.
Slovan do seem to concede plenty of goals both domestically and in Europe and the call could be a home win and over 2.5 goals at 20/21 with Boylesports.
Expect Celtic to come out with all guns blazing here in a frenzied atmosphere and attack. That should lead to corners. Go for over 5.5 in the first half at 13/10 with UniBet.
This UEFA Champions League match between Celtic and Slovan Bratislava will be played on Sep 18, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
