Celtic vs Hapoel Be'er Sheva Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

New manager Brendan Rodgers’ managerial career at Celtic couldn’t have got off to a worse start earlier this summer. They travelled to Gibraltar to face off against part-timers Lincoln Red Imps in the Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round and came away on the back of a shock 1-0 defeat.

However, he has managed to turn it around, beating Lincoln Red Imps 3-0 at home before knocking Astana out 3-2 on aggregate to make it to the playoffs. However, Celtic have been knocked out at this stage in each of their last two seasons, and last year they followed it up with a dreadful performance in the Europa League group stages.

Celtic did manage to get their domestic season off to a good start with a 2-1 win at Hearts though, and they followed it up with a 5-0 thrashing of Motherwell in the Scottish League Cup. They did lose 2-0 against Inter Milan at the weekend, but it was a friendly match in which they played a fairly weak side so we can’t read much into that.

The Scottish champions couldn’t have hoped for a much easier playoff round tie either. Hapoel Be’er Sheva are making their Champions League debut this season and have never even made the Europa League group stages. They have only made three appearances in major European competitions this millennium as well.

The visitors haven’t managed to score an away goal in the Champions League either, with goalless draws being played out against both Sheriff and Olympiakos. Celtic, meanwhile, have won each of their last five home matches in the Champions League and kept three clean sheets in the process.

The hosts have only conceded in four of their last 11 competitive home matches as well, so my prediction is for them to get off to a good start in this first leg. I’m backing Celtic to Win to Nil at excellent value odds of 6/4 along with a 2-0 correct score prediction at 6/1.