Celtic hosts Salzburg

Celtic hosts Salzburg in a match from Group B of the Europa League. For Celtic this game could mean a qualification for the knockout phase of the competition, while for Salzburg it does not hold any meaning. Let’s take a look in our winning soccer predictions.

Celtic needs just one point in order to secure the second place and qualify for the next phase. Right now the Scottish team is second in the group with 9 points, having 3 points advantage in front of the third RB Leipzig. For the Brits the situation is pretty simple – just win a point and the mission is completed.

So far in the competition Celtic have a record of three wins and two defeats. One of these two losses was conceded exactly against Salzburg – 1-3 at the Red Bull Arena in October. Odsonne Edouard opened the score for the Brittish side, but Salzburg turned the game around with a brace from Munas Dabour and a goal from Takumi Minamino.

Now the situation is very different, because Salzburg already won this group. This means that the Austrian team could start this game with a very different starting eleven, filled with reserve and young players. This means that Celtic’ chances of success shall increase.

Salzburg are perfect in the group so far – five games, five wins. They are clearly the strongest team in the group. In their last game they enjoyed a 1-0 win over RB Leipzig at home, thanks to a winning goal from Fredrik Gulbrandsen.

We can conclude that for Celtic this is a golden opportunity to qualify for the elimination phase of Europa League. Salzburg are clearly the better team, but they are not playing for anything anymore in this group. That’s what we can say in our winning soccer predictions.