Celtic vs AZ Alkmaar Prediction & Tips
Europa League preliminaries at “Celtic Park” in Glasgow, where Celtic host AZ Alkmaar.
Celtic lost the Scottish title after 9 years of unchallenged domination, but second place in Scotland also earned them a Champions League preliminary, but lost in extra time to Midtjylland. The “relegation” in the Europa League started with the easy double success against the Czechs of Jablonec. AZ Alkmaar are entitled to the last act of the Europa League preliminary after the magnificent third place in the last Eredivisie, which brought them to just one point from PSV and the Champions League. Two of the young protagonists, Boadu and Stengs, have left, so the center forward Pavlidis and Koppmeiners will join the various De Wit, Karlsson and Wijndal, the latter currently injured. Celtic have maintained the same structure for years now, but with the addition of the interesting Japanese left winger Furuhashi, who together with the other winger Forrest and the other goalscorer midfielder Turnbull, form the trio behind striker Odsonne Edouard. Australian Postecoglu is the new coach.
Celtic are at number 46 in the UEFA rankings, AZ are 66th.
The Scots have scored from 16 races in European competitions.
The Dutch have won only one of their last 6 continental away games, at Napoli.
In 5 of the last 7 matches between teams from Scotland and the Netherlands, the former have gone unbeaten.
Confrontation that seems apparently open, but the home factor and the greater physical condition would make us lean more towards an unbeaten Celtic. But AZ also knows how to throw it in.
Celtic – AZ Alkmaar FREE TIPS
Celtic – Win @ 2.25
Both teams to score / YES @ 1.80
Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.90
