Celtic Face Tougher Test in Rosenborg

Champions League | Preview

26/07/17

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Scottish champions Celtic entered the Champions League at the second qualifying round stage. Having drawn Linfield Brendan Rodgers’ team made no mistake in progressing to the third round, where they have drawn Norwegian champions Rosenborg.

Celtic made the group stages of the Champions League last season and were involved in some very exciting games, especially with Manchester City. The competition tends to be better for their presence and many fans will be hoping they can qualify.

However, this will be a difficult tie and it is important the Hoops take a decent lead with them to Norway next week.

Celtic were never going to have any problem overcoming Linfield in the previous round of the competition. There was a lot of build up to the game in the media surrounding crowd trouble and the fact Celtic did not sell their away allocation of tickets.

This did not stop the players getting the job done on the pitch and having secured a good 2-0 win in the first leg, they completed the job with a comfortable 4-0 home win in the second leg.

At home is where Celtic are best in the Champions League and trends show they have lost just two of their previous ten home matches in the competition. The two defeats were last season in the group stages to Barcelona and Borussia Monchengladbach.

Conceding goals has been a bit of a problem for Celtic in home Champions League games and they have conceded 9 goals in their previous five games. However, Celtic have scored 12 goals in the same five matches and have proved to be entertaining to watch.

Like Celtic, Rosenborg entered at the second qualifying stage of the Champions League and were paired with Dundalk. This was never going to be an easy game, as Dundalk reached the Champions League playoffs last season and the group stages of the Europa League.

Having picked up a 1-1 draw away from home, Rosenborg were confident of getting the job done on home soil but Dundalk forced extra-time before the Norwegian’s found a second goal on the night to win the tie.

Trends show Rosenborg have struggled away from home in the Champions League, winning just one of their previous nine matches. Six of those games have ended in defeat, five coming in their last six including losses at Copenhagen, Breidablik and Norrkoping.

Rosenborg have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last six away Champions League games.

Celtic forward Moussa Dembele has been strongly linked with a move away from the club so it remains to be seen if he will start the match. With Leigh Griffiths suspended for the game Scott Sinclair may start further forward.

Rosenborg will be set-up to play on the counter-attack and Nicklaus Bendtner will be the central striker, expected to hold the ball up for his team. Matthias Vilhjalmsson and Pal Helland will attempt to link with Bendtner in attack.

Expect Celtic to come out on top in this match, with over 2.5 goals and both teams scoring a distinct possibility.