RB Leipzig v Celtic
Wednesday, 17:45
Live on BT Sport
Perfectly poised
Round three of the UEFA Champions League group stage is here, and followers have some mouth-watering matches on the programme.
Liverpool host Rangers in a battle of Britain at Anfield on Tuesday before Celtic travel to Germany where they face Bundesliga big guns RB Leipzig less than 24 hours later.
The Bulls and Bhoys have met twice, and the head-to-head stats are poised at one win each. Those games were played in the 2018 Europa League group stages when RB Leipzig eased to a comfortable 2-0 win at home before Celtic responded to win 2-1 at Parkhead a few weeks later.
Which side will land that all-important second win and improve their chances of finding a way out of Group F? Let's take a closer look.
Bulls are bottom
When sharing a pool with Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic, most football pundits picked the Germans as the team most likely to secure the runners-up position. Blancos started as red hot betting favourites to progress as winners of the group, and they have lived up to expectations so far, collecting six points from their opening two games. But things haven't gone to plan for Leipzig.
The Bulls enjoy home advantage for this match sitting bottom of the group without a point for their efforts. Shakhtar beat them on matchday one in a major shock before losing to Madrid on week two, which was far less surprising.
The Bulls can still save their season and turn things around, but they must kick-start the revival with a home win over Celtic.
RB Leipzig has no points on the board, scored one goal and conceded six. It has been a nightmare start, worse than most critics imagined, but there's still time. If the Bulls win this home match and Real Madrid beat the Ukrainians, it'll stretch to a three-runner race with Leipzig back in the mix for qualification.
Bhoys drew last time
Celtic are second from the bottom of the pile, with only their hosts beneath them in the pecking order. They have taken one point from the six available, scoring one goal but conceding four. Victory in Germany would lift Celtic to four points, which would set the cat amongst the pigeons.
Ange Postecoglou's Scottish Premiership champions held their own in an opening match against the Spanish La Liga winners in the east end of Glasgow.
That match was goalless at the interval before Madrid began to move through the gears. Vinicius Junior broke the deadlock on 56 minutes before the evergreen Luka Modric added a second. Eden Hazard wrapped things up with a third goal to kill off the Scots.
Back-to-back defeats were expected, but Celtic improved to earn an away draw with Shakhtar, taking a point from the match to move above RB Leipzig into third. That point may have been better than most expected, but Celtic fans left that match frustrated that their side didn't turn their dominance into goals and land a rare away win in this competition.
Home advantage makes the difference
There isn't much between these teams on the head-to-head stats, their recent form in this competition or how they have been performing domestically.
RB Leipzig will be disappointed at their start, but there's still time to claw their way back into contention. Celtic have done as well as could be expected and know they will be in with a chance of going through if they win here.
Since starting their Champions League adventure, Celtic have played four games and managed just one win. The spare was a 2-1 at home to Motherwell on Saturday, but they needed a second-half goal to avoid another draw.
On Saturday, RB Leipzig was seen hammering VfL Bochum 1848 in the Bundesliga.
RB's weekend win and their home advantage push us towards a bet on the locals, and we're backing RB Leipzig at odds of 1.618/13 on the Betfair Exchange.
That makes more appeal than Celtic at 6.05/1 or another draw at 4.67/2. Are you looking for a distraction from the winner? Both teams to score is 1.784/5, or you can add under 2.5 goals to your accumulators at 1.695/7.