Charlie Nicholas believes that Celtic will come away with a close victory as they face Kazakhstan outfit Astana in the Champions League play-off first-leg.
The former Celtic player believes that the SPL champions will secure a 2-1 win at Celtic Park on Wednesday night.
The two sides faced each other in the Champions League third qualifying round last season where the Hoops progressed with a 3-2 victory on aggregate as Leigh Griffiths scored twice and Moussa Dembele slotted home a last minute penalty in the return leg.
Celtic have enjoyed a fine Champions League campaign so far, keeping four consecutive clean sheets and beating Linfield and Rosenborg in the process.
Writing in his column on the official Sky Sports website, Nicholas believes that Astana will not make things easy for Celtic and he feels that his former club will need to score plenty of goals in order to feel comfortable going into the return leg next week.
“This is a tremendously important and tricky game from Celtic,” he said.
“Celtic will dominate the possession but Astana will be happy to sit in, absorb the pressure and take a one-goal defeat because it will be a long and uncomfortable trip to Kazakhstan, so Celtic need a two-goal lead in my opinion.
“This is a really awkward night for Celtic and I’m going for a 2-1 win, which leaves them in real danger.”
OPINION
Brendan Rodgers’ men have enjoyed a fine start to the domestic campaign, picking up three victories in a row in all competitions and scoring a total of 10 goals in the process. However, Nicholas is right to be cautious ahead of Wednesday’s encounter as Astana have also won their opening two league matches and they have not conceded a single goal in the process. The Hoops will definitely be lacking in firepower as last season’s talisman Dembele remains injured whilst Griffiths has been suffering with full fitness in recent weeks. They would have probably preferred the second-leg to be at home because if they fail to score or create chances in the opening stages, the crowd could potentially grow restless and cause anxiety amongst the players. It is set to be an intriguing night in Glasgow this Wednesday.