Shakhtar Donetsk vs Celtic prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2022-09-13 16:45.
The Stadion Wojska Polskiego, home of Polish side Legia Warsaw, welcomes Shakhtar Donetsk for their first āhomeā UEFA Champions League (UCL) encounter this term. Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, UEFA have ruled that Shakhtar must play their home games abroad, although that doesnāt seem like itāll be too much of an issue after they travelled to Germany and swept Leipzig aside 4-1 on the opening day, a result which saw the opposing manager sacked in the aftermath!
Even in domestic action Shakhtar have played their home games upwards of 700km away from Donetsk in cities like Lviv and Kiev – as they have been doing since 2014 – though that nomadic existence hasnāt stopped Shakhtar from recording an unbeaten competitive start to this season (W4, D1). With that recent Leipzig win the āhostsā have already bettered last seasonās winless UCL group stage showing (D2, L4), raising hopes of ending a run of four straight group stage eliminations.
Another side used to going out at this stage are Celtic, who are making their first group stage appearance in five seasons and are seeking to end a run of three straight group stage exits in the competition proper. The Bhoys had made a perfect seven-game winning start in domestic action, although the illusion of positive results against Scottish opposition was laid bare as Spanish giants Real Madrid showed up to humble them 3-0 in Glasgow on UCL matchday one.
Celtic have inadvertently had extra time to prepare for this clash, with the sad passing of Queen Elizabeth II postponing all UK football at the weekend. That time would perhaps have been best spent working on defensive drills after Celtic conceded at least twice in every one of their European away games last season (W2, L5) and have alarmingly leaked at least six goals in three of their last four UCL away defeats too!
Key battle: Marian Shved has scored three goals in his last two Shakhtar appearances and his two strikes on matchday one were his first European goals since scoring in a UCL qualifier with Celtic! Trying to thwart him will be Celtic stopper Joe Hart, who knows this opposition somewhat after keeping two clean sheets from three international encounters with Ukraine.
Hot stat: Celtic have kept just one clean sheet across their 33 UCL away games in the competition proper (W2, D3, L28).