PREVIEW WEDS GAMES

The media interest so far in the early rounds of the Champions League has been muted to say the least. At least with Celtic entering the fray tonight there's a team we can say we actually know a bit about. The names on tonight's fixture list look more like destinations for a Michael palin travelogue than top class European football.

Still, for the second season running, the Champions League draw has not been kind to Celtic. Twelve months ago, the Bhoys came up against Arsenal and they now face a team that finished runner-up in the Portuguese Superliga last season.

Sporting de Braga might not be a household European name, although they were top of the league for much of the season, being pipped by Benfica with only a couple of games to spare. Manager Domingos Paciência is bristling with confidence ahead of this encounter and his team are 10/11 (Stan James) to establish some kind of first leg advantage.

Indeed, it's something of a surprise to see the Scottish newspapers describe Celtic's pairing with Braga as a favourable one, with the main upside being that Neil Lennon's team only have a two hour flight to Portugal for this first leg encounter. However, odds of 7/2 (Ladbrokes) that they pull off a win illustrate the size of the task facing them.

It will be interesting to see how many of Celtic's new signings start against Braga, with Charlie Mulgrew, Cha Du-Ri, Daryl Murphy and Joe Ledley all hoping to make their competitive debuts. Striker Georgios Samaras might also be involved after impressing the manager during the team's tour of north America, with Paddy Power offering 12/1 that he scores the opening goal of the game.

However, the visitors are likely to be on the back foot for much of the game, especially as they work out how to get a handle on Albert Meyong. The Cameroon international managed twelve league goals for Braga last season and is 7/1 (William Hill) to open the scoring against Celtic.

It's also worth noting that the Portuguese side were defensively tight last year, conceding just twenty goals in thirty matches and their stadium, which was built out of a cliff face for Euro 2004 is intimidating to say the least. A draw will be a decent result, but Celtics's Champions League away record is dire and we have to go with the home team.

Braga were unbeaten at home last season with 43 from 46 points and given Celtic have just one solitary away win to their name in Champions League football  the evens Braga with Bet 365 is worth a look.

Elsewhere, Swiss side, Young Boys are more than capable at home and can cause poor travellers Fernabache some problems. They look set to out perform their price of 11/4 with sportingbet (only 9/4 BetFred) and the 5/4 about a Turkish win looks worth swerving.

Published 28-07-2010

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