Midtjylland v Celtic betting tips: Hoops can deliver

Preview and odds for Wednesday’s Champions League qualifier

The first leg ended honours even so we are now scouting for some Champions League second qualifying round second-leg Midtjylland v Celtic betting tips.

Danish side Midtjylland held their under-strength Scottish hosts to a 1-1 draw at Celtic Park last week, a game which saw each team end with 10 men.

The second leg at the MCH Arena in Herning, Denmark, is live on Premier Sports 1 and kicks off at 6.45pm.

Midtjylland v Celtic match odds

Manager Ange Postecoglou insists Celtic cannot help but be better prepared for the second leg which his side are 19/10 to win in the Midtjylland v Celtic betting tips.

Postecoglou had voiced concerns over his squad’s fitness and over how long it was taking to get new faces into the club ahead of the first-leg tie against the Danish side but they got off to a positive start.

New signing Liel Abada, the 19-year-old Israeli winger, marked his competitive debut by scoring in the 37th minute only for defender Nir Bitton to be sent off late in the first half for picking up the second of two yellow cards for remonstrating with Anders Dreyer, who was also booked for diving in the box.

Dreyer was sent off 10 minutes into the second half for another dive before Evander levelled for the Danish side with a free-kick to set up next week’s second leg in Denmark.

Celtic’s preparations for the game took a huge knock with a 6-2 friendly defeat by West Ham at Parkhead on Saturday.

Postecoglou was candid about the defeat but still believes Celtic can go through against the Danes.

He said: “This result makes no difference to my confidence ahead of Wednesday. We knew it was going to be a tough challenge going over there.

“We saw in the first leg that we played well but it was still a tight contest. It will be the same in the second leg.”

It is 12/5 the second leg will end in a draw over 90 minutes and 11/2 it will again be a 1-1 draw in the Midtjylland v Celtic betting tips.

Midtjylland, who finished a point behind surprise winners Brondby in the Danish Super League, created very little but were helped by the dismissal of Bitton.

Despite seeing Dreyer dismissed, the visitors levelled with a fluke goal 10 minutes later when Brazilian midfielder Evander hammered in a free-kick off the far post with Celtic keeper Vasilis Barkas too easily beaten – it was their only shot on target.

Midtjylland, who sold star midfielder Frank Onyeka to Brentford earlier in the day, are a functional team but lacking in quality, yet they will feel they have the advantage now and are 29/20 to win the second leg in 90 minutes and 8/1 to prevail 2-1.

Midtjylland v Celtic head-to-head

The sides had never met before their 1-1 draw in the first leg at Celtic and it is 4/6 that both teams score again in the return.

Celtic recorded 16 shots in the game, while Midtjylland managed just three, and the Hoops had six corners to Midtjylland’s two.

Celtic are 250/1 to win Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since 1967.

Team news

Bitton is suspended after his red card in the first leg and Celtic must again do without Mikey Johnston (hamstring) and Karamoko Dembele, who was on the receiving end of a brutal tackle from Bristol City’s Kasey Palmer in their recent friendly clash.

Midtjylland will miss tricky winger Dreyer, who is similarly suspended, but Raphael Nwadike, who went off with a head injury during the first leg, is expected to be fit.

Postecoglou revealed striker Albian Ajeti “had a little knock” and midfielder Olivier Ntcham “just wasn’t ready” following the loss to West Ham so it remains to be seen whether they will play any part.

Key battles

Although Postecoglou had shown some dissatisfaction about his players’ lack of fitness, Ryan Christie and Odsonne Edouard looked sharp in the first leg, with the former striking a post from close range and the latter firing over on the turn and having a tame shot well saved by Jonas Lossl.

Rumours persist Edouard may be on his way out of Celtic Park this summer but all the time he is in the line-up he looks a real threat and is 9/2 to score the first goal in the match and 9/5 to net at any time.

Barkas was at fault with the FC Midtjylland goal and he should expect to be busier than he was at Celtic Park.

The Midtjylland v Celtic betting tips have the Hoops at 14/5 to keep a clean sheet and while Barkas has been underwhelming since joining the Glasgow giants, much will depend on how he copes with the hosts’ limited attacking threat.

It is 17/20 that there will be three or more goals in the game.

View the latest Champions League odds

All odds and markets correct as of date of publication