CELTIC travel to the Netherlands on Tuesday night to face Feyenoord in their opening Champions League group-stage match of the 2023-24 campaign.
The Bhoys endured a baptism of fire upon their return to Europe's Premier club competition last season, as they finished bottom of their group and failed to win a single match.
Back under the guidance of Brendan Rodgers, the Celtic faithful will be hoping that their side fare better this time around in Group E where they will come up against Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid and Lazio.
The Scottish champions warmed up for this clash with a comfortable 3-0 win over Dundee at Parkhead on Saturday, with Matt O'Reilly's strike bringing up one of our man Mark Walker's selections.
As for Feyenoord, they will be competing in the Champions League group stage for the first time in six years, with last season's Eredivisie title triumph stamping the Rotterdammers' ticket back to Europe's top table
Arne Slot's side hit Heerenveen for six on Saturday and they will be keen to make a strong start here as they bid to progress to the knockout stage for the first time in their history.
Outright Betting
Despite winning just one of their last eight Champions League home matches, Feyenoord are short priced 3/5 favourites (Bet 365).
Celtic picked up a point in their first Champions League away match last season but the same outcome here is big as 16/5 (PaddyPower) while the away win is trading at 9/2 (PaddyPower) with the same firm.
Betting Angles
Feyenoord are worthy favourites here but I'm going to bypass the 1×2 market and instead back both teams to hit 3+ corners and each team to receive a card at 4/5 (Bet 365).
Arne Slot's side were prominent corner performers en-route to the Eredivisie title last season, averaging 7.38 per-game, a tally only marginally topped by Ajax.
While the new season is still in its infancy, that trend would appear to be showing no signs of slowing down, with Feyenoord earning a league-high 42 corners across their opening five league games of the season, hitting a minimum of three on each occasion.
As tends to the case, Celtic have also been strong corner performers this term to date, with Brendan Rodgers' side averaging 8.60 per-game across the opening stretch of the Scottish Premiership season.
With neither side likely to adopt a safety first approach here, I'll back both sides to hit 3+ corners, but to round off the Bet Builder, I'll also back both teams to go into the book.
Referee Irfan Peljto has averaged a shade under four-cards per-game across his career, and he should be kept busy here given that both sides will be desperate to start their respective campaigns with a positive result.
On a similar line of reasoning to the above, I'll also back Celtic to hit over three corners at 5/6 with Bet 365.
This bet would have paid out in each of Celtic's six group stage fixtures last season, and even though the Hoops are no longer under the guidance of the much-heralded Ange Postecoglou, I'm still more than happy to side with the same selection here at an appetising price.
This UEFA Champions League match between Feyenoord and Celtic will be played on Sep 19, 2023 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Feyenoord vs Celtic prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
