Celtic vs Suduva Marijampole Predictions

A 1-1 draw in Lithuania has kept this tie completely open as both teams will want to jump this final hurdle before the Europa League group stage. Celtic know they weren’t good enough in Marijampolė and will be looking to set that right under the bright lights of Parkhead.

Ovidijus Verbickas’ header cancelled out Olivier Ntcham’s third minute opener in the first leg as the teams drew but Brendan Rodgers will have confidence in his team to see this game through with the aid of an away goal. The Hoops limited their opposition to just four shots compared to their 15 but they still managed to concede to the fairly toothless Sūduva attack. The back-three of Christian Gamboa, Jozo Simunovic and Kristoffer Ayer came under much flack as they were pretty uncomfortable to watch, despite only conceding one in this game.

The Celtic defence has been a highlighted issue at the club for most of Rodgers’ tenure but despite great domestic success, he has failed to successfully correct this fault in his team and it has cost them many a European campaign. Dedryck Boyata came back into the side at the weekend after much debate over where he would be playing his football come the end of the transfer window and this will be a real reassurance for Rodgers as the Belgian could really patch up that defence ahead of the home match against Sūduva.

He was very often put under the microscope by Celtic fans towards the end of last season but after some fantastic performances with Belgium in the World Cup, he has since been linked with some high-profile clubs. Last weekend’s game was his first match back since returning to training and he has once again come under some criticism by the Green Brigade. He declared himself unfit to play against Sūduva in the first leg and reports had even come out saying that his agent had demanded to speak to Brendan Rodgers at the training ground about a move away for the defender. All this stress culminated in a banner being held aloft by the Celtic fans at last week’s game against Hamilton saying that he isn’t “fit to wear the jersey.” Of course, Boyata went on to score the winner against the Accies and instantly changed the mind of many fans but the jury is still absolutely out for the defender.

Boyata will be crucial in this game and although he had an easy runout against Hamilton in the last game, who had no real intention of scoring, he still showed the great qualities that have made him such a sought-after player. He held his back-three together and got Celtic their first clean sheet in six games. He will help younger defenders who have suffered in recent games like Ajer and Jack Hendry improve their game and get them back playing at the quality they have proven they can.

Celtic haven’t been in terrific form recently with tight wins over Partick Thistle and Hamilton being the very dim highlights of their last six games. And with the first Old Firm derby of the season on Sunday, Brendan Rodgers will be desperate for smooth sailing in this match ahead of the big one.

Sūduva currently sit atop the A Lyga in Lithuania and have only lost two domestic games all season. Their real struggles have been in their difficult European clashes. They did well to progress past APOEL 3-2 but were handed another tough fixture as they eventually crashed out of the Champions League to Red Star Belgrade. Now against the Scottish champions, they held their own at home with a 1-1 draw in the first leg but were really up against it at points, as they had to batten down the hatches to 15 shots from the Hoops. They only conceded one though and will be looking to grab an away goal at Parkhead.

They have only lost two out of their 20 league games but they both came within a week of each other at the end of last month. The Sudovians managed to ride the wave of poor form though and come back to their expected pedigree with a 3-0 win over Atlantas. They have had several league games postponed to make way for their busy European campaign, so the Lithuanians have had a whole week to recover from last week’s tie and this could cause the game to fall into their favour.

However, we still back the Celts to see this one through. Brendan Rodgers is an extremely experienced manager and will know how to set his team up in a crucial match like this. Celtic haven’t been at their greatest recently but with Dedryck Boyata returning to the defence, this could completely change the team’s fortunes. Celtic have still scored in all but two of their last 14 games and we suspect them to continue this trend against a team who have conceded in all but one of their European fixtures this season. Sūduva also have a good goalscoring record though, with a +32 goal difference domestically so we’re backing them to get a goal here in a match they have to score in. We’re backing a 2-1 win for the Hoops.