Football Bet of the Day: Hoops can secure vital victory

Our football bet of the day for Wednesday, January 22 focuses on Uefa Champions League action from Celtic Park as Brendan Rodgers' side host Young Boys (20:00 live on TNT Sports 3).

The hosts are potentially one triumph away from securing a play-off place, and will fancy their chances against the Swiss champions, who have lost all six of their European outings this term.

Football Odds

If someone had told Rodgers that his Celtic side would be ahead of Manchester City in the Champions League standings heading into the penultimate matchday, I'm sure he'd have asked for that night's winning lottery numbers as well.

Nevertheless, that is the position the Hoops find themselves in, and granted much of that is down to City's bizarre run of form that has seen them win just two of their six encounters in Europe's premier club competition, but Celtic are one point better off than Pep Guardiola's side.

Tasting defeat just once this term on this stage compares very favourably the misery Celic have endured in Europe in recent seasons. The only blemish on their record this term was the humbling 7-1 defeat at Signal Iduna Park at the hands of Borussia Dortmund, bu Rodgers' men have enjoyed some resounding victories themselves, including a 5-1 triumph over Slovan Bratislava and a 3-1 win over German outfit RB Leipzig.

Celtic's league form has also been excellent, winning 19 of their 23 games so far to open up a 13-point gap at the summit of the Scottish Premiership. The Bhoys also went the whole of 2024 unbeaten at Celtic Park - a 2-0 loss to Hearts on December 16, 2023 was their most recent home loss in any competition.

Celtic vs Young Boys Odds

As mentioned in the introduction, a win here for the Hoops could see them secure a play-off berth, depending on other results, of course.

The top eight in this season's Champions League go through automatically to the last-16 while the teams finishing ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged play-off against each other to decide the other eight spots.

I'd argue that Celtic couldn't have picked a better opponent to face to try and secure their place in the play-off round, as Young Boys have endured a miserable campaign, losing six matches out of six, scoring just three goals and shipping 22.

The Swiss side have lost their three away games 5-0, 2-1 and 5-1, and have already been eliminated from the competition. Therefore, a Celtic win to nil appeals here, especially since that's been a winning bet in four of the host's last five matches at Celtic Park.

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You can read our latest Football Bet of the Day at our dedicated Betfred Insights content hub.