JUST IN: Prior to Celtic’s first-ever European encounter with Aston Villa, match details
The fact that Celtic has advanced to the Champions League knockout stages for the
first time since 2012–2013 is the most positive statistic of all. With three victories so far this season,
Celtic’s last winning streak [4] came during their 1973–1974 European Cup run,
which saw Jock Stein’s team advance to the semi-final.
A first encounter between Celtic and Villa
When Aston Villa and Celtic play one other in European competition for the first time,
Unai Emery’s team want to win to guarantee a respectable top eight finish.
Since he was Seville’s manager in 2015–2016, the top Spanish manager has not lost back-to-back Champions League games. Can Celtic halt Emery’s incredible record this evening after losing 1-0 in Monaco last week? Villa’s only other European matchup with a Scottish and British team was against Lee Johnson’s Hibs in the 2023–2024 Europa Conference League qualifying round. In the first leg, Emery’s team easily defeated the Hibees 3-0 in Birmingham after crushing them 5-0 at Easter Road. In their last three Champions League encounters with English opponents, Celtic has drew each one. The last time the Hoops faced a team from south of the border in Europe’s top club competition, they drew 1-1 with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at the Etihad eight and a half years ago. In the meantime, just one Scottish team has ever won the European Cup or Champions League on English soil. The current Celtic team will be hoping to emulate Jock Stein’s 1969–1970 squad, which won 1-0 against Leeds in April 1970 thanks to a goal from George Connelly in the first leg of the European Cup semi-final. Since then, English teams have defeated Scottish opponents seven times, winning five of them and losing two.
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