Panathinaikos vs Celta Vigo Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

This is a big game in the context of Celta Vigo’s season. They hadn’t played in Europe for nine seasons prior to this one so will be desperate to keep their Europa League adventure going into the New Year. However, to do that they will almost certainly need to win this game and even then they’d be hoping for a favour from group winners Ajax, who travel to Standard Liege, who are currently level on points with the Spaniards.

Generally speaking Celta Vigo are a really good team to watch as a neutral as their games often produce lots of goals. Both teams have scored in 4 of their 5 Europa League games this term and in 5 of their last 6 league games, including a 3-3 thriller just last weekend at Real Betis. Given the group situation they have even more incentive than normal to be positive here and try to score goals so this promises to be another relatively high-scoring game and they certainly have the attacking weapons to hurt Panathinaikos.

Celta don’t keep many clean sheets though so the Greeks will feel they can cause a few problems of their own despite a poor showing in this competition so far. They’ve conceded twice or more in all of their group games and have just one point to show for their efforts. However, Celta can’t afford to take this game for granted. The Athens club are 2nd in the Greek Super Liga and have won 6 of their last 7 home games in their domestic league.

The visitors are also still relatively inexperienced in European competition and big pressure nights such of this and they’ve looked more vulnerable than most Spanish sides in this competition in recent years. There is no pressure on the Greeks so they can throw caution to the wind a bit here and we should see an open game,therefore backing both teams to score at 4/5 looks to offer value.