£10-£500 Ladder Challenge – Bet 1

These two will go at it again after a really entertaining meeting last week. The Germans ran out 3-1 winners but Celtic gave a great account of themselves.

There were just shy over 30 shots between the pair of them with 10 shots on target. It was like a basketball game at times with Christopher Nkunku and Andre Silva putting chances away. A helping hand from Joe Hart didn’t help matters for Celtic.

Celtic have had a blistering start to their domestic campaign, they’ve won eight and lost just once from their opening nine matches. They’ve scored 29 already so they’re averaging 3.22 goals scored per game in the league. They’ve had over 1.5 goals in 100% of matches.

They come into this one on the back of that dramatic 2-1 win at St Johnstone which must’ve had decent viewership with there not being a Sunday English game at the same time. St Johnstone levelled it at 1-1 in the 93rd minute before Georgios Giakoumakis stole the points in the 95th.

As for Celtic’s Champions League campaign, they’re still looking for their first win. They could do with one against Leipzig to try and at least sneak into the Europa League.

The good news is that Celtic have also had over 1.5 goals in every UCL game so far. A 3-0 loss to Real, a 1-1 draw against Shakhtar and then last week’s 3-1 defeat in Leipzig.

Leipzig come into this one averaging 3.00 goals per game in the Bundesliga and they’re the only side in the German top tier to have a 100% record for over 1.5 goals. So that’s both Leipzig and Celtic having over 1.5 goals scored in 18 out of 18 matches between them.

Leipzig travel to Glasgow having had over 1.5 goals scored in their last 14 competitive matches since the end of July. They’ve been very goalsy in the Champions League so far. They were uncharacteristically walloped 4-1 at home by Shakhtar, before losing 2-0 in Madrid and bouncing back with the 3-1 win over Celtic.

Last week’s reverse fixture between Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Madrid finished 2-1, coming in at over 1.5 goals. But the score alone does not tell the full story.

This should have been a far more comfortable night for the Spanish Champions. 36 shots and an xG of 3.50 is evidence enough to suggest that Madrid should have run away with this tie.

It’s clear that plenty of goals were left on the table, and with Shakhtar scoring once from just 11 shots to put the pressure on last Wednesday, Los Blancos will look to ensure that they put the game to bed this time around.

If the all action affair at the Bernabeu doesn’t already suggest that over 1.5 goals is likely in this one, then the domestic stats will make for good reading.

Real’s game at the weekend against Getafe is their only fixture to not have finished with over 1.5 goals this season, and in fact, was their first clean sheet domestically this campaign.

They’re 8 domestic fixtures have seen 26 goals, with Real having scored 19 whilst also conceding once in each of their opening 7 games. Additionally, the reigning European Champions have scored a minimum of 2 in each of their Champions League group games.

They’re ability to create chances is also second to none in Spain. An xG of 2.53 shows the quality that they have in forward areas, whilst an xGA of 1.24 suggests that Shakhtar will get chances.

Karim Benzema was also rested at the weekend, meaning that he is likely to feature tonight. As one of Europe’s best, he’ll be looking to get back amongst the goals following his return from injury.

He’ll be flanked by Vinicus Junior and Rodrygo, who have a combined 8 goals in 8 in La Liga, and both of whom scored in the reverse fixture against Shakhtar last week.

This won’t be a one side affair however, and Shakhtar possess enough quality to trouble their Spanish opponents. Their 5 League games have seen 12 goals, with Shakhtar themselves averaging 2 per game.

They’ve also scored in each of their Champions League group games so far, even going so far as to net 4 against Leipzig. At home, they’ll have every chance of Scoring against a Madrid team who have conceded in 8 of their 11 games this season.

With an xG of 2.01 domestically, the Ukrainian side clearly have the ability to create chances against Real, and having scored with just 3 shots on target in the reverse fixture, their clinical nature could result in more goals this week.