Celtic vs Stuttgart Prediction & Betting Tips (19 February)

Not at the level displayed over the last few seasons, Celtic did not really shine during the league phase by only taking 21st place in the regular season of this Europa League, far from the battle for the top 8. That said, the Scots were still able to preserve the essentials by validating their place for the play-offs thanks, in particular, to their last 2 rather successful performances against Bologna 0-0 and against Utrecht 4-2 in the last 2 days. In addition to being fairly average in Europe, the Glasgow-based club is struggling in the league where it should lose the title. 3rd in the Scottish Premiership, Celtic are 6 points behind the leader, Hearts, and only one behind their rival: Rangers. Victorious against Falkirk 2-0 and against Livingston 2-1, the locals will aim for 3 on Sunday against Kilmarnock. On the other side of the median, Stuttgart presents itself with some certainties before this double confrontation.

The Germans were indeed able to secure a good 11th place in the final ranking of the regular season of this Europa League with only one point behind the top 8. Beaten at Roma 2-0, the visitors were able to finish this first phase of the competition on a good note by dominating Young Boys 3-2. At the same time, VfB is on the verge of the top 5 in the Bundesliga after its surprise defeat at Sankt Pauli 2-1. The Swabians will want to recover next weekend at home against Cologne. 

Celtic are deprived of several elements at the moment. Indeed, replacement defender Johnstone, the long-term injured Carter-Vickers, the little-used Osmand and the former Rennais Jota are all on the floor at the moment. This is also the case for Norwegian midfielder Holm. Recruited this winter, former England international Oxlade-Chamberlain should be able to hold his place. Up front, we find the rather formidable striker Benjamin Nygren who has 12 goals scored this season in the league. He is notably ahead of the Japanese Maeda (7 goals) and the Korean Yang Hyun-Jun (4 goals). In the Europa League, Nygren shares the lead in this team's scorers rankings with another Japanese, Reo Hatate.

The 2 men have 3 achievements to their credit. On the German side, coach Sebastian Hoeness will have to compose his group without defender Zagadou, the most important Jaquez, winger Jovanovic and without striker Tiago Tomas (3 goals) who are injured. In addition to this, the midfielder recruited this winter, Jeremy Arévalo, was not included on the list of players authorized to play in this competition. There is a lot of quality to be found in this team, notably Bosnian striker Demirovic (5 goals), wingers Lewelling (5 goals, 5 assists) and Führich (3 goals) and the formidable striker Undav who is the Swabians' top scorer with 11 goals scored in the Bundesliga. In C3, it is the Moroccan El Khanouss who is the most decisive with 3 goals to his credit in the competition, ahead of Lewelling and Undav (2 goals each).