Real Madrid vs Celtic

Estadio Santiago Bernabeu is the venue as Real Madrid and Celtic face each other in contrasting Champions League circumstances.

Reigning Champions League holders Real Madrid have locked down their place in the competition’s knockouts for the 26th consecutive season with two games to spare but have seen let complacency get the better of them. A 3-2 defeat away to RB Leipzig last time out followed up an underwhelming 1-1 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk, putting ‘Los Merengues’ in a must-win situation if they’re to secure a favourable draw. With second-placed Leipzig only one point adrift, Carlo Ancelotti’s men will be out to build on an astounding 11-game home form in the Champions League (W10, L1) and bounce back from a lacklustre 1-1 draw with Girona at the weekend. There’s plenty of reason for optimism in the Madrid camp, considering they’ve won all three previous Champions League home fixtures against Scottish visitors via at least a three-goal margin.

In the meantime, last week’s 1-1 home stalemate against Shakhtar condemned Celtic to a bottom-place finish regardless of the outcome of this encounter. After suffering defeats in four of their five Group F outings (D1), the ‘Hoops’ stare down the barrel of an unwanted piece of history. They risk completing a Champions League group stage campaign without a single win for only the second time in the club’s history, and signs are ominous. Ange Postecoglou’s men have painful memories from their recent Champions League games against La Liga adversaries, having lost their last five meetings with Spanish teams in the competition by an aggregate score of 19-1. Moreover, the defending Scottish Premiership champions have never won on their nine previous Champions League visits to Spanish sides (D1, L8).