Celtic vs Lazio prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2023-10-03 19:00.
A 2-0 defeat against Feyenoord in Celtic’s UEFA Champions League (UCL) opener was their only blotch on an otherwise perfect month of September (W4) – a run that culminated with a dramatic 2-1 Scottish Premiership win against Motherwell on Saturday. October begins on the European stage at Celtic Park, a ground boss Brendan Rodgers lauded as a “special place” on European nights ahead of the visit of Lazio.
It’ll be even more special if Celtic can repeat the pair of 2-1 victories they managed against Lazio in the 2019/20 European League group stage, but with a mixed bag of results at home against Italian opposition (W5, D5, L4), it’s anyone’s guess whether they can. A ten-match winless run in UCL home group games dating back to 2013/14 (D2, L8) would suggest they can’t, with seven of those games seeing them register a scoring blank.
Lazio themselves fired a blank at the weekend in a 2-0 defeat against AC Milan, extending their miserable start to the Serie A season (W2, D1, L4). They did at least secure arguably the standout moment from the opening UCL round, when goalkeeper Ivan Provedel struck a 95th minute equaliser against AtlĂ©tico Madrid – a goal that was enough to extend their unbeaten run in UCL group stage matches to seven games (W2, D5).
Incredibly though, you’d have to go back to 2003/04 for Lazio’s last away win in a UCL group stage campaign, when they beat Beşiktaş 2-0. It perhaps wouldn’t be too far-fetched to expect some similarities in that game here, particularly in the goal tally, as Lazio’s last four competitive games have all seen exactly two total goals scored!
Players to watch: Celtic’s Matt O'Riley will look to transfer the domestic form which has earned him a new contract onto the European stage, having scored in his last three league appearances, each time after the break. Lazio may look to Ciro Immobile for some goalscoring inspiration, but his last three starts have yielded more yellow cards (two) than goals (one).
Hot stat: Only one of Celtic’s last seven games saw both teams score.