On Thursday evening, from 19:00, FK Sarajevo and Celtic meet in the UEFA Europa League play-off, in the Bosnian capital. The match at Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium brings interesting memories to the Scots: the two teams also met in the 2019 UCL preliminaries, when Celtic went ahead after 3-1 away and 2-1 at home!
Celtic is the favorite team in this duel, because it has on its side the quality of the team and the experience at this level, in Europe. But Neil Lennon’s team has also produced unpleasant surprises in European cups and the share of guests is too low to offer real value to bettors. We note that FK Sarajevo has an excellent record in recent matches, both domestically and in Europe.
The hosts come after successes with Radnik Bijeljina (2-0), Borac Banja Luka (4-2), Olimpic Sarajevo (3-1) and Sloboda (3-2), being victorious against Buducnost (2-1), in preliminary round 3. The duel in the previous round was very difficult for the Bosnian team. Tatar opened the scoring for the white-cherries (‘4), but Moraitis (’44) equalized for the Montenegrins. In the end, Fanimo (’67) scored the decisive goal, but the hosts trembled in the end, after Rahmanovic was eliminated (’75) for the accumulation of cards. The statistics were balanced and Buducnost certainly felt that it was very close to a historic qualification in the play-offs.
Celtic have also played well lately, after the surprising elimination from the Champions League preliminaries. The white-greens come after the championship victories with Ross County (5-0), St. Mirren (2-1), Livingston (3-2) and Hibernian (3-0), but they had great emotions in Europe! Celtic waited until extra time to beat FC Riga, with Elyounoussi’s goal (’90 +2), in the 3rd preliminary round. It was a match in which the Latvians did not send a shot on goal, preferring an ultra-defensive tactic and hoping to reach penalties against the Scottish champion.
-FK Sarajevo comes after five consecutive victories, four of them in the championship;
-Sarajevo have conceded a goal in the last four consecutive official matches;
-Celtic Glasgow have 8 wins and one defeat in the last 9 official matches;
-Celtic have scored no less than 17 goals in the last 6 official matches;
-Celtic won 3-1 and 2-1 in the 2019 UCL preliminaries with Sarajevo;
PREDICTION: Over 2,5 goals @ 1,73
