On Thursday evening at 20:00, Celtic receives Valencia’s visit in the first sixteenth final UEFA Europa League final. Even if the Iberians reached UEL in the Champions League, the Scots have their chance to qualify, especially as the “bats” do not impress on the offensive.
With the best score on home ground, Celtic hopes to gain an important return on Mestalla, but Valencia has made good matches with Manchester United and Young Boys Berna as a dangerous opponent. No defeat in 9 of the 15 home games played against Spain’s opponents, Celtic has only two wins in the last 9 matches with the Iberians, but the duels with Real Madrid and Barcelona can not be easy. Probably Valencia will come to play a concentrated game on the possession, and in the last three European bat “I have never seen more than two goals scored. Set in a 4-5-1 pass, Valencia will look for a counterattack slot, and Celtic may be vulnerable, given the weakness of its domestic competition.
Often in recent years we have seen modest Celtic matches in Europe, even if the comfortable scores in the championship would not have indicated such weaknesses. It may be the case once again because Valencia is a good passer and has the advantage of coming with a full lot in Glasgow. Celtic has begun Benkovic, Eboue, Griffiths, Ntcham and Tierney, and their absence could greatly weigh in the strengths of the two bands. The Scots came out of a group with Salzburg, Leizpig and Rosenborg, and elimination phase qualification is a performance in itself, considering that white-green investments have not been impressive in recent years.
Celtic comes after 5 consecutive no-goal victories in Scotland, in front of opponents like St. Johnstone (5-0), Hibernian (2-0) or Hamilton (3-0), while Valencia has impressed with defensive organization lately. With 3 consecutive draws on active, 0-0 with Sociedad, 2-2 with Betis and 2-2 with Barcelona, Valencia has only one defeat in the last 9 official matches and seems to have found the productive formula in attack (10 goals scored in the last 5 games). The two bands also met in the 2001/2002 UEFA Cup, when Valencia qualified 1-0 home and 1-1 away (outcome after overtime).
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1,80
