Celtic face Club Brugge on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League. Brendan Rodgers’ side will look to take a step towards qualification for the next stage with a result against the visitors from Belgium. Celtic are currently on 7 points while their opponents are on 6 points and will have similar aspirations for Matchday Five.
First meeting against Club Brugge
This is the first meeting between Celtic and Club Brugge. Celtic have faced Belgian opposition on eight previous occasions and have a 50% win rate, playing KAA Gent, Germinal Ekeren, and Anderlecht over the years. Blauw-Zwart have won the Belgian top division on 19 occasions, second only Anderlecht.
Celtic looking to better 2012/13 records
Celtic have scored nine goals in four UEFA Champions League games this season, which is the club’s joint most with the 2012-13 campaign. You would have to go back until the 1977-78 season for a greater total (13) coming in the European Cup. Celtic’s star man Nicolas Kühn will be the one to watch given that he has 22 goal contributions (11 goals and 11 assists) in 18 appearances in all competitions this season.
Celtic have won two of their opening four games of this season’s UCL campaign, which is as many as the club’s last four campaigns combined. The last time Celtic won three games was in the 2012-13 campaign under Neil Lennon in which Celtic beat Spartak Moscow (twice) and Barcelona. Obviously, the new format has eight games but Celtic will be targeting to match and better the 2012-13 record this year.
Brugge’s solid defensive record
Club Brugge scored seven goals at the weekend but they have only scored four times in their last nine UEFA Champions League games. Their last five wins in the tournament have been to nil, signifying their resilience at the back. Indeed, since the start of 2022-23, only Inter Milan have kept a clean sheet in a higher percentage of games than Brugge among teams to have featured in more than one season of the competition.
Engels could match KDB record
Arne Engels has three assists in four appearances in his debut campaign in Europe’s top competition. The Belgian will be looking to match or even better Kevin De Bruyne, who holds the record for most assists by a Belgian player, recording four in 2017/18, 2018/19, 2020/21 and 2022/23. Engels has already equaled Matt O’Riley’s three assists from last season as well as Charlie Mulgrew’s from the 2012/13 season.
Brugge’s European pedigree
Brugge have reached two European finals and three European semi-finals in their history. They remain the only Belgian side to play in a European Cup/Champions League Final, losing in 1978 to Liverpool. The Belgians hold the European record for consecutive participation in the Europa League.