Champions League Betting: Celtic v Aalborg

Celtic v Aalborg – Live on Sky Sports Xtra. Kick off – Wednesday 7.45pm

Celtic’s Champions League form is a punter’s dream – back them to win at home, back them to get beat away. It seems a simple philosophy but if you’d have stuck by it you’d have been in for a serious profit in the last few years. In the last two season’s group stages for example, it’s been 6 wins at home and 6 defeats away – on both occasions it’s been enough to see them through to the last 16. They’ll happily take a repeat this time round and the trend looks set to continue tomorrow night when they host Danish champions AaB Aalborg at ‘fortress’ Celtic Park.

The Danes have had to negotiate two rounds of European football to make it to the group stages. First they saw off FK Modriča, then the beat Rangers’ conquerers FBK Kaunus over two legs so they have earned their right to compete in their first Champions League in 13 years. But Europe aside they’ve struggled to replicate their league-winning form of last season and currently sit ninth in the 12-team Superligaen table with just two wins from seven games.

However, Celtic will need to be wary of the motivational powers of AaB’s coach, Bruce Rioch, the former Scotland international. The visitors’ attacking threat will be led by Marek Saganowski, the Poland forward currently on loan from Southampton.

Celtic looked like they returned to some kind of form at the weekend with an impressive first half performance at Motherwell where they raced into a four goal lead on their way to a 4-2 victory. And they’ve a good record against Danish sides, never having conceded a goal at home in five games – the latest being a 1-0 win over FC København in 2006 so the Celtic fans will be expectant of another home win.

Celts odds on for win

The bookies expect so too and make the Hoops 8/15 (Ladbrokes) to start with a win. I doubt the Danes will have many backers at 8/1 (SkyBet), which I think it is miserably short given Celtic’s record at home in the Champions League.

With Celtic’s next two games away to Villareal and Manchester United it’s vital that they get a first win under their belt and 8/15 isn’t a bad price and worth adding to your accumulator. And if it goes to form, it’s reasonable to expect that they’ll do it quite comfortably. To win without conceding they’re a much more tempting 6/5 at Paddy Power.

I don’t expect it to be a high scoring game so a small win for Celtic on the correct score market might be the way to go. 1-0 is best priced at 6/1 (Totesport) as is 2-0 at Centrebet.

Good luck!

Selectabet Offers:

• Open an account at Bet365 and claim £100 in free bets
• Open an account at Betfair and claim £25 in free bets
• Open an account at Paddy Power and claim £25 in free bets