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

Hapoel Be’er Sheva are in need of a bit of a miracle on Tuesday. They went to Celtic Park as huge underdogs, and it turned out to be justified. By the time half-time came around Celtic were three goals to the good, and despite a two minute double from Hapoel Be’er Sheva early in the second half the result never looked in serious doubt. Celtic went on to net two more to make it 5-2 and give them a commanding lead going into the away leg of the tie.

The hosts did manage to bounce back from this defeat at the weekend when they beat Hapoel Ra’anana 2-1 in the Ligat ha’Al, but their chances of their debut Champions League campaign continuing into the group stages isn’t looking a likely prospect at the moment.

However, they have never made it into the Europa League group stages either, so whatever happens this season can be classed as a success in Europe for Hapoel Be’er Sheva. This is just their 3rd appearance in major European competition since the turn of the millennium. They will want to try and make the aggregate score look a little more respectable though.

Brendan Rodgers has made a fantastic start to his life as Celtic manager. It began on rocky ground as they failed to beat Lincoln Red Imps away from home, and there were fears that their European failures were set to extend. However, they bounced back from that humiliating defeat and have since won all but one of their seven competitive games this season.

Their 5-2 thrashing of Hapoel Be’er Sheva was preceded by a 5-0 hammering of Motherwell in the Scottish League Cup, and they followed the convincing victory with a 4-2 win against St. Johnstone in the league on Saturday.

The pressure will be off both teams on Tuesday, and I expect that to make for an entertaining game of football. Celtic have been scintillating in attack this season, but their defence has slipped up a bit over the past week or so. They have seen a huge 18 goals scored in their last three competitive games, and six of their last seven competitive games have seen at least three goals scored in them. Both teams have also found the net in five of their last seven.

Hapoel Be’er Sheva will need to go on the attack from the outset though, and they haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last five games, with all but one of them resulting in three or more goals. This makes odds of 21/20 for Over 2.5 Goals and Both Teams to Score look good value for money, so I’m going for that along with a 2-2 correct score prediction at 12/1.