Celtic kick off UCL campaign with home game against Slovan Bratislava…
Celtic will kick off their UEFA Champions League campaign with a home game against Slovan Bratislva on Wednesday, 18 September (KO: 8pm). Brendan Rodgers’ side are competing in the new format of the prestigious competition and are one of 36 teams in the league phase.
Celtic will play four home matches – against RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, Young Boys of Bern and Slovan Bratislava – and four away ties against Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, Dinamo Zagreb and Aston Villa.
And after opening with a home game against the Slovakian champions, Celtic will head to Germany to take on last season’s UEFA Champions League runners-up, Borussia Dortmund, in the Westfalenstadion on Tuesday, 1st October. That’s a venue that the Celtic support has long wished to visit and it should be quite an occasion.
All eight of Celtic’s fixtures are shown below alongside some interesting data on how the first ever playing of this new format is likely to play out, with Celtic’s predicted points total and a very interesting indication of how many points are going to be needed to go through.
The first match against Slovan Bratislava is so crucial for Celtic to win as they are rated as the lowest side in the entire competition. Both Brugge and Young Boys have lower ratings that Celtic and the games against them are at home. Win these three and the nine points would set us up for having a real chance at qualifying.
CELTIC’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
Wednesday, 18 September 18 – Celtic v Slovan Bratislava
Tuesday, 1 October – Borussia Dortmund v Celtic
Wednesday, 23 October –Atalanta v Celtic
Tuesday, 5 November –Celtic v RB Leipzig
Wednesday, 27 November –Celtic v Club Brugge
Tuesday, 10 December – Dinamo Zagreb v Celtic
Wednesday, 22 January 22, 2025 – Celtic v Young Boys of Bern
Wednesday, 29 January 29, 2025 – Aston Villa v Celtic
🚨 Our first Champions League simulations for the league stage.
💠 Probabilities to finish in Top 8 and directly qualify for R16.
💠 Probabilities to finish in Top 24 and qualify at least for the KO round. pic.twitter.com/d8wjiqauhP
— Football Meets Data (@fmeetsdata) August 31, 2024
Expected standard for 8th place = 15 pts
Expected standard for 24th place = 9 pts pic.twitter.com/nkI6a3xxoA
— Football Meets Data (@fmeetsdata) August 31, 2024
