Will the Styrians make Europa League history?
On the second matchday of the Europa League group stage, SK Sturm Graz beat Glasgow Rangers 2-1 in front of their home crowd. Now the Schwoazn are playing away at their city rivals, the Gers, and could become the only club besides FC Barcelona to defeat both of Glasgow’s big clubs in a single season.
The Catalans achieved this in 2007/08 in the Champions League, which means that the Austrians would make Europa League history if they were to repeat this feat. However, the odds are not looking good for Jürgen Säumel’s team to win away at Celtic Glasgow.
On the first matchday of the league phase, the Styrians suffered a 2-0 defeat at FC Midtjylland. Celtic Glasgow, meanwhile, are once again a cut above in terms of personnel, even though the Hoops lost their only home game 0-2 to Sporting Braga and are not currently in top form under Brendan Rodgers, who is about to play his 63rd international competitive game as Celtic coach. Nevertheless, it should be enough to earn a point against the Schwoazn in what is likely to be a low-scoring game, which is why we see the greatest value in the Celtic Glasgow vs. Sturm Graz prediction in the match combo on the double chance 1X with under 3.5 goals.
In our opinion, there is a lot of value to be found in betting on a low-scoring match. So if you wouldn’t categorically rule out an Austrian victory, you could definitely bet on under 2.5 goals in the game. The odds for Celtic Glasgow vs. Sturm Graz are 2.20 at AdmiralBet.
Celtic Glasgow – Sturm Graz Head-to-head comparison / H2H record
Never before have these two teams faced each other in an international competitive match, and this will be their first ever encounter. This means that there is no direct head-to-head data available that could influence our tip for Celtic Glasgow vs. Sturm Graz. However, while the Styrians have won three of their five European competitive matches against Scottish teams (two defeats), the Hoops have only recorded two wins from twelve encounters with Austrian clubs (three draws, seven defeats).
Celtic Glasgow – Sturm Graz Tip
It is a crucial week for Celtic Glasgow, as they face a must-win away game in the Premiership on Sunday against surprise leaders Hearts of Midlothian. This will certainly be taken into consideration for the Europa League home game, as Brendan Rodgers may decide to rest a few key players.
However, we consider it unlikely that the Styrians will be able to capitalize on this. After all, the Styrians are bottom of the Europa League when it comes to possession. With an average of only 2.4 passes per sequence, only three moves with more than ten passes, an average duration of 5.9 seconds per attack, and a total of only 491 successful passes, Säumel’s team has the weakest statistics in the competition.
Against this backdrop, we expect the Scots to earn at least one point in what is unlikely to be a high-scoring match. Accordingly, there is a lot of value to be found in the combined tip on the double chance 1X with under 3.5 goals, which is our main recommendation.
