AC Milan welcome Celtic to the San Siro in Group H of 2020-21 UEFA Europa League.
Victory would see AC Milan qualify for the knockouts if Sparta Prague lose at Lille whereas Celtic are already eliminated but need a win coupled with defeat for Sparta to give themselves a shot at not finishing bottom of Group H.
Team News
Zlatan Ibrahimović is a doubt for AC Milan with a hamstring injury whilst Rafael Leao (thigh) and Samu Castillejo (knee) remain absent.
Celtic remain without James Forrest (ankle) and Mikey Johnston (knee) despite the latter making progress in his recovery.
Stat Attack
- AC Milan are unbeaten in ten of 11 previous meetings against Celtic in all UEFA competitions (W7, D3, L1).
- Celtic have lost three of their last five trips to Italy across all UEFA competitions (W1, D1, L3).
- Neil Lennon’s Hoops have won three of five games in all UEFA competitions this season of which they scored first, although none of those wins have come in the Group Stage (W3, D1, L1).
Prediction
AC Milan will be pleased to have come away from Lille last week with a valuable point in which they were made to work extremely hard defensively whilst their attacks were sharp but clinical, especially their goal from a through ball which ripped Lille’s defence apart.
Celtic meanwhile just seem to be in a slumber which is just getting deeper because their attacking players are working hard as normal yet their defensive play as a unit has just collapsed into freefall this season, which is a huge concern for Neil Lennon because no title winning team should be suffering defensive plunges like they have.
I therefore wouldn’t be surprised if we see a weakened Celtic team put out now they’re eliminated because Lennon’s priority has to be domestic competitions with immediate effect if are to salvage anything decent from this campaign.
Prediction: AC Milan 2-0 Celtic
Result: AC Milan 4-2 Celtic