Celtic absolutely dominated Israeli side Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the first leg of the Champions League playoff. The Hoops took the advantage of having the first leg at home and won the game 5-2. Unless Barak Bakhar’s side come up with something inspiring in the second leg, Celtic should make it to the group stage of the Champions League with relative ease. When Rodgers was approached for the Celtic job, probably his biggest test was to bring Champions League football back at Parkhead and the Northern Irishman is just 90 minutes away from succeeding in his first test.
Hapoel have an uphill task at hand as they need to win by 3-0 or more to qualify for the next stage. Celtic will be heading into the game with great confidence having scored 14 goals in three games. However, we can expect the Bhoys to take a rather conservative approach in this game. All they need to assure is to ship away goals. Hapoel Be’er Sheva are unbeaten in their last four home European games but they need a big win, this time out, to make it to the elite competition of Europe and that would be a very hard job.
Here is the predicted Celtic lineup V Hapoel Be’er Sheva:
Defence
Craig Gordon had a nervy game against St. Johnstone this weekend and clearly Rodgers will be frustrated with his inability with the ball at his feet. However, new signing Dorus de Vries is still not match fit and we can expect Gordon to keep his place under the bar. Kolo Toure is an obvious choice at the heart of the defence having started his Celtic career strongly. Youngster Eoghan O’Connell did a brilliant job during the injury crisis in defence but had a shaky last game. We can expect Danish international Erik Sviatchenko to replace the Irishman in defence. Mikael Lustig was rested against St. Johnstone and we can expect the Swede to make a return to the starting XI while Kieran Tierney should retain his place.
Midfield
Celtic skipper Scott Brown is likely to keep his place in the middle of the park. Alongside Brown, we can expect Callum McGregor to start ahead of Nir Bitton who started on the weekend. Tom Rogic has been impressive of late and the Aussie should be able to retain his place at the number ten. Scott Sinclair and a reborn James Forrest are likely starters on the two flanks.
Attack
Leigh Griffiths has already managed to score six goals in all competitions this season and will be eager to keep up his stunning form when he spearheads the Celtic attack against Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
