CELTIC’s Europa League campaign ends here as they take on Fenerbahce in Turkey. Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) lends his thoughts.
Fenerbahce v Celtic | Thursday 18:00 | BT Sport 2
Depressing innit? Celtic head into this game knowing that not only it is impossible for them to qualify but also that they will finish bottom of this Europa League group. Motivation must be pretty low.
It’s all gone downhill for Celtic since their excellent draw in Amsterdam back in September. From there they went 2-0 up against Fenerbahce in Glasgow and if you pressed pause at this point things were looking good for the Scottish side. But…
Fenerbahce scored twice to draw the game 2-2 and since then Celtic have lost all their games in this group. Norwegian side Molde beat them home and away before they succumbed to a late goal at home to Ajax two weeks ago.
It’s a depressing picture for Celtic but there’s definitely a sense they’ve been a bit unlucky in this group. If they had held on against Fener in October and not conceded late against Ajax the picture would have been a lot rosier.
If Celtic’s campaign has nosedived Fenerbahce’s has rocketed. They suffered an odds on home defeat to Molde in the opening matchday and after salvaging a point in Glasgow things have really improved.
Vitor Pereira’s side kicked on from that to take four points out of six against Ajax and then dealt revenge to Molde by winning in Norway two weeks ago.
A draw is enough for the Turkish side to go through and that should be achievable here but the fact Ronny Delia has said he will field a young Celtic team makes me think we’ll see some fighting spirit from the Scots.
Celtic have scored in all their group games despite their poor position and with the pressure completely off hopefully they can go out and enjoy themselves in Istanbul.
With lots at stake for Fener though I expect them to get over the line in what hopefully will be an exciting match. I’ll back Fenerbahce to win in a BTTS match at 2/1 with Coral.
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TOPICS Europa League Tips European Football Football Scottish Football Betting Tips
