2 Oct 2019
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Celtic have the chance to get revenge after a 4-3 defeat at Celtic Park to these opponents ended their Champions League ambitions back in August. CFR Cluj were taken out in the next round anyway by Slavia Prague, hence their participation in this competition, but they’ve shown more than enough to suggest they’ll be competitive once again.
The Romanians displayed their mettle by beating Lazio in their opening group game, despite the Italians having originally taken the lead, which has opened the group up with Rennes also competing for qualification to the knockouts.
Cluj may have been at home in that surprise win, but they only went down 1-0 to Slavia Prague in both legs during the play-offs and it’s worth bearing in mind that the Czechs aren’t a team to be sniffed at having knocked Sevilla out of the Europa League last season, as well as holding Inter to a stalemate in their Champions League group stage opener this term.
CFR Cluj +1 Asian Handicap
With that in mind, Celtic appear rather short at the prices and we’d prefer to get the visitors on side. Given Cluj have lost by more than the solitary strike just once in 15 outings in European competition since the start of last season, during which time they’ve gone a very even W6-D3-L6, the +1 Asian Handicap gives us some cover in case of the narrow home win.
In fact, Cluj have avoided defeat both home and away against the Scottish Champions so far this season. The nine goals scored across those two fixtures in total meant that both teams found the net in each, which has now happened in four of Celtic’s last five European outings.
Both Teams To Score
Cluj don’t tend to keep too many clean sheets on the road, with both teams scoring in seven of their last nine away from home across all competitions, so this should be another entertaining affair, if not quite the thriller they played out at Celtic Park previously.
The team news for both sides isn’t encouraging, but not disastrous either. Although Cluj could potentially be without strikers Billel Omrani and Lacina Traore, they aren’t entirely reliant upon the strike duo for output, with their last 13 goals in all competitions scored by 11 different players.
For Celtic however, Neil Lennon will be without goalkeeper Scott Bain, defender Jozo Simunovic and defensive midfielder Nir Bitton, though he has enough squad depth for able replacements to come in.
It’s also worth mentioning that central midfielder Callum McGregor was selected at left-back in the previous clash with the Romanians, ahead of summer signing Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo.
Although McGregor had a torrid time and the experiment won’t be repeated here, it’s not as though the Belgian has really excelled in his Celtic career to date. Having been converted from winger to full-back earlier on in his career, he’s inevitably quite attacking and his defensive deficiencies will only increase the risk of Cluj getting onto the scoresheet.
Both Teams To Score (Yes) At 5/4
CFR Cluj +1 Asian Handicap At 9/10
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