The atmosphere at the Olympic Stadium in Athens will be just as fiery as the one the Greek visitors experienced in Glasgow. Celtic will have to be on top of their game today at 20:00 CET if they are to qualify for the next round.
Bet on AEK Athens vs Celtic
AEK Athens – Celtic Preview
Last Wednesday in Glasgow, Celtic started furiously and opened the scoring through a well-worked goal from Callum McGregor early in the game. AEK settled down as time went by and equalised at the stroke of half-time. This was through an emphatic Viktor Klonaridis finish after Hector Lopes kept the play alive. Konstantinos Galanopoulos was given the marching orders in the 57th minute, but thanks to some superb defending, the Greek side held on.
The result is obviously an advantage for Marinos Ouzounidis and his team, but the manager still wants a committed performance in the second leg with winning as the main objective.
“First, we need the performance to be better than it was in the first leg and second, we want to try to win the match.”
“We are not going into the match thinking that we have to take a goalless draw.”
“That is not our objective. Our objective is to win so we can proceed to the next round.”
As far as Brendan Rodgers is concerned:
“We know it’ll be a tough game, but that’s what you’d expect in this competition, especially at this stage against a good side, however, we believe we can get a result whatever the crowd or support is.”
AEK Athens – Celtic Team News
Kristoffer Ajer is suspended and will be replaced by Jozo Simunovic.
Leigh Griffiths was excellent since coming on in the first game and should get more playing time in the reverse fixture, especially if Celtic are down at the half. Moussa Dembele is also available following his injury absence, although he’s still not ready to start.
“He started the season fantastically well and was unfortunate he got his injury.”
“He has looked very fit and strong and the beauty with Moussa is he wants to play, he wants to be involved. It is too much of a risk to start but I am sure at some point in the game he will play a part.”
Dembele’s injury occurred in mid-July in the first qualifying round match against Alashkert. Marvin Compper and Lewis Morgan are out, while centre-back Dedrick Boyata didn’t travel with the team as speculations about his future with the club rage on.
On the other side, captain Petros Mantalos could return if given permission by team doctors.
AEK Athens – Celtic Bet365 Betting Odds
AEK Athens to qualify 1.75 (3/4)
