Lazio look to boost their knockout ambitions in a Group E clash against Celtic at Stadio Olimpico in 2023-24 UEFA Champions League.
Victory would see Lazio go top if Atletico Marid lose elsewhere, whilst defeat would end Celtic’s hopes of even achieving Europa League’s knockout stage qualification but a win won’t be enough either if Feyenoord beat Atletico Madrid.
Team News
Mattia Zaccagni is a doubt for Lazio after he suffered a hip injury during their 2-1 defeat at Salernitana in Serie A.
Alessio Romagnoli (calf) and Nicolo Casale (muscle) remain absent.
Celtic will be without Luis Palma and Daizen Maeda due to suspension after Palma picked up his third booking in their defeat at Atletico Madrid, whilst Maeda was red carded in the same game.
Reo Hatate, James McCarthy (both hamstring) and Liel Abada (thigh) remain ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Lazio host Celtic at Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday 28 November in a 6:45pm CET (5:45pm UK Time), live on TNT Sport 1 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Lazio won their only previous Champions League meeting against Celtic by 2-1 result in October 2023.
- Celtic are playing away to Lazio for the first time in the Champions League but won their only previous away visit by 2-1 result in Group E of 2019-20 Europa League.
- All three of Lazio’s previous meetings against Celtic were settled by 2-1 results.
- Two of Lazio’s five goals in this group have been scored by Pedro.
- Celtic are winless in their last seven away games in all UEFA competitions (D1, L6).
Prediction
Despite their domestic struggles this season, Lazio are right in the fight for knockout qualification and with home advantage, they must must win here if want to stand any chance at going through because their final game away to Atletico won’t be an easy task.
Celtic meanwhile are all but mathematically out of the knockout qualification scrap and having failed to score in their last two away games in Europe, they need to pull something out of the bag to keep any dreams of an Europa League knockout spot alive.
This fixture though has often been closely contested with the team playing away having triumphed in all three previous meetings, yet Celtic’s European away form is pretty poor but this might be a nice point to end that rout if they can find their scoring boots.
Maeda and Palma however are two strong losses for this game which makes me think that Lazio will edge this like they did in Glasgow.
Prediction: Lazio 2-1 Celtic
Result: Lazio 2-0 Celtic
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