Celtic vs Braga Predictions

• Five of Celtic’s last eight games have gone under 2.5 goals
• Celtic have kept eight clean sheets in their last 11 games
• Each of Braga’s last four matches have gone under 2.5 goals

Another cagey contest on the cards for Celtic

Celtic’s Europa League campaign kicked off with a respectable 1-1 draw away at Red Star Belgrade and they will be looking to build on that when they welcome Braga to their Glasgow fortress on Thursday evening.

Brendan Rodgers’s side currently sit second behind Hearts in the Scottish Premiership, having won four and drawn two of their six games, but Saturday’s goalless draw at home to Hibernian further highlighted their attacking struggles.

The Bhoys have scored only eight goals in six league outings, with four of those matches going under the 2.5-mark, and they played out two goalless draws with Kazakhstani outfit Kairat Almaty in Champions League qualifying before crashing out on penalties.

There is nothing wrong with Celtic’s defensive aptitude – they have kept eight clean sheets in 11 competitive outings this term – but a lack of clinical finishing in the final third is their undoing and Braga are a tough nut to crack.

Braga have had a miserable start to their Primeira Liga campaign, winning only two of their seven outings, but a battling 1-0 success at home to Feyenoord in their Europa League opener shows their capabilities.

It is easy to envisage this pair cancelling one another out for large parts of this encounter, especially with Braga’s last four matches having featured a total of only five goals.

Three of those four games featured just one goal, with Braga suffering 1-0 defeats in the league to Gil Vicente and Nacional, so Celtic may be able to edge a low-scoring encounter.