Celtic will be looking to bounce back from successive defeats in Group G when they continue their Europa League campaign at home to Ferencvaros on Tuesday night.
The Scottish giants are currently bottom of the section with zero points to show from their opening two games, while Ferencvaros have also lost their opening two fixtures against Bayer Leverkusen and Real Betis.
Match preview
© Reuters
Celtic have found it difficult to compete in Group G thus far and prop up the table with zero points, while they have conceded eight times in their two matches, which is the most of any club in the competition this season.
Indeed, the Hoops lost a seven-goal thriller away to Real Betis on September 16 before suffering a 4-0 home defeat to Leverkusen last time out, meaning that the team have a lot of ground to make up in the section.
Ange Postecoglou's side, who have lost three of their last four Europa League group-stage games at Celtic Park, will know that they need to beat Ferencvaros home and away in their next two matches to stand a realistic chance of finishing first or second in Group G.
Celtic will enter Tuesday's contest off the back of successive victories, beating Aberdeen 2-1 earlier this month before recording a 2-0 victory away to Motherwell on Saturday.
A return of 16 points from nine Scottish Premiership matches this season has left the Bhoys in fourth position in the table, four points behind leaders and champions Rangers on the same number of games.
© Reuters
Ferencvaros, meanwhile, have also lost their opening two matches in the section, going down 2-1 away to Leverkusen in their first game before suffering 3-1 home loss to Real Betis at the end of September.
The Hungarian champions actually took part in the group stage of last season's Champions League but found it difficult to compete, picking up just a point from their section, which included Juventus and Barcelona.
Ferencvaros lost their Champions League playoff to Young Boys this season, though, and therefore dropped into the Europa League, and they are competing in the group stage of this competition for just the second time.
The Green Eagles will enter Tuesday's contest off the back of a 2-1 home defeat to Zalaegerszegi TE in the league on Saturday, but they are still first in the table on goal difference from Kisvarda.
Like Celtic, Peter Stoger's side will be targeting two wins from their next two matches, and it will be fascinating to see what occurs as the two teams lock horns for just the second time, with Ferencvaros winning their previous meeting 2-1 in the second qualifying round of the 2020-21 Champions League.
- L
- L
- L
- W
- D
- L
- W
- W
- L
- L
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Celtic will again be missing Josip Juranovic, Greg Taylor, James Forrest, Karamoko Dembele and Christopher Jullien for Tuesday's European contest through injury.
There are not expected to be many surprises in the home side's XI for this match, with Jota and Liel Abada again likely to operate in the final third of the field alongside Kyogo Furuhashi.
Nir Bitton is an option to come into the starting side, but Tom Rogic, David Turnbull and Callum McGregor should again feature in the starting side for the Scottish giants.
As for Ferencvaros, head coach Stoger will have been pleased with certain aspects of his team's performance against Real Betis in the competition last time out, so it would not be a surprise to see a similar side here.
The visitors could decide to line up in a 3-4-3 formation, with Ryan Mmaee operating at the tip of the attack and Myrto Uzuni featuring in a wide area once again.
Tokmac Nguen was named on the bench against Real Betis, but the 27-year-old is in line for a return to the starting side in Scotland.
Celtic possible starting lineup:
Hart; Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Montgomery; McGregor, Turnbull; Abada, Rogic, Jota; Furuhashi
Ferencvaros possible starting lineup:
Dibusz; Blazic, S Mmaee, Botka; Wingo, Laidouni, Vecsei, Civic; Nguen, R Mmaee, Uzuni
We say: Celtic 1-1 Ferencvaros
Both teams will know the importance of winning this match, but we are finding it very difficult to separate them. A draw is no good to either as they chase down the top two in the section, but we have had to settle on a low-scoring draw taking everything into consideration.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Celtic win with a probability of 52.86%. A win for Ferencvaros had a probability of 24.33% and a draw had a probability of 22.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Celtic win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.75%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.99%) and 2-0 (8.27%). The likeliest Ferencvaros win was 1-2 (6.25%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.59%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with an 8.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Celtic would win this match.
