Most clubs have only just started their preparations for the new season, but Celtic can start on Tuesday evening. The Scottish national champion has to survive no less than four qualifying rounds to secure a starting ticket for the group stage of the Champions League. For starters, the team of trainer Brendan Rodgers travels to the Armenian capital Yerevan to take on local pride Alashkert.
Alsahkert:
We can say that Armenian club football is still in its infancy. Since Armenian independence in 1993, no Armenian club ever managed to qualify for a European main event. Alashkert, who last season for the third time in a row to crown champion, does not give up the European dream and hopes to be able to compete against Celtic. “We will try to take the initiative and play our own game,” said trainer Varuzhan Sukiasyan. ‘We have a lot of respect for Celtic, but we are absolutely not afraid of them. We also have various good, experienced players. ‘
In preparation for the diptych against Celtic, Alashkert invested in a training camp in Belarusian Minsk, where it played three times against several Russian secondclass. With the defenders Mladen Zeljkovic and Danijel Stojkovic, midfielder Danilo Sekulic and striker Uros Nenadovic, the Armenians have a large Serbian enclave, but star player is Armenian international Artak Yedigaryan. He crowned himself last season with twelve goals to club top scorer of The Yellows, who in 2018 on their own field only twice the shortest end.
Celtic:
The time that all European national champions are automatically insured for participation in the Champions League has been behind us for some time. Today, the major European top competitions claim the majority of the starting tickets and the champions of the smaller leagues are sentenced to the preliminaries. With a UEFA coefficient of only 18,925, the Scottish Premier League does not reach a mere 23rd place, just before Cyprus and Norway and narrowly behind Israel and Sweden. This means that Celtic, who has been a ruler for years in the Netherlands and has won her seventh national title in a row last season, again has a long way to go before the group stage of the European champions ball is in sight.
Celtic was forced to start her preparation on time and has already finished four exhibition games. The form of the Scots is good, because last weekend, the Irish Shamrock Rovers with no less than 0-7 over the knee laid. The Bhoys will have to be wary of Alashkert, however, because two seasons ago they were surprised by the insignificant Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar in this phase of the tournament. This time Celtic has to fly for almost six hours to get to the destination, but the green-white ones are full of confidence. ‘We now know what to expect,’ says midfielder Callum McGregor. ‘It is very hot, the field is different. We have a good team, however. ‘ A lot is expected of the French attackers Odsonne Edouard and Moussa Dembele in particular. Both were very accurate last Saturday in the 3-5-2 formation of Celtic. “I think they were terrific,” Rodgers jubilated afterwards. Celtic will probably have to put it in Armenia without captain Scott Brown, who is not completely fit.
PREDICTION: Over 2.5 goals @ 2.00
