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Riga FC (Lat) vs Celtic (Sco) Prediction & Betting tips
Celtic was surprisingly eliminated by the Hungarian Ferencvaros in the Champions League last week. One level lower it now has to play against Latvian Riga FC. Can The Boys Prevent Another Surprise?
Riga FC:
Riga FC was only founded in 2014, but has already won the title three times in its first five full seasons. The team thus dives into the hole that the bankruptcy of fellow townsman Skonto left in 2016. Skonto became champion of Latvia no less than fourteen times in a row between 1991 and 2004 and then also won the necessary titles. Riga FC became champions of the Baltic state in 2019 and 2018, where the seasons follow the calendar. In 2020, a third title will almost certainly be added, as the team won seventeen of its nineteen league games played.
In Europe, Riga FC also hopes to keep moving forward. Last year, the team only stranded in the play-offs against FC Copenhagen, after beating the Danes at home. Riga had previously dealt with the Polish Piast Gliwice and the Finnish HJK Helsinki. In qualifying this season, Riga lost against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the first qualifying round of the Champions League, only to beat San Marinese Tre Fiori in the second qualifying round of the Europa League. It only became 1-0 against a team from miniature San Marino, which actually says enough about the quality of the team. The team’s top scorer is the Congolese Kule Mbombo, who was under contract with Beerschot Antwerp between 2017 and 2019.
Celtic:
Celtic become the annual champion in their own country, so the big challenge for The Boys is to be European successful and to reach the Champions League. We succeeded for the last time in the 2017/2018 season and in the new season we will not see the green and whites again at the very highest level. In the first preliminary round, Icelandic KR Reykjavik was easily beaten 6-0, but in the next round it went wrong against Hungarian Ferencvaros. Neil Lennon’s team was surprised with 1-2 at their own Celtic Park.
Since then, there has been nothing else for Celtic to do but to win the Premiership again (that would be the tenth national title in a row) and winter in Europe. Incidentally, that was successful in the last two years. Last season Celtic even finished at the top in a group with Lazio Roma, Stade Rennes and CFR Cluj, before being eliminated by FC Copenhagen in the sixteenth final. In the previous season, the team finished second by retaining RB Leipzig and Rosenborg.
Celtic was able to strengthen itself well last season. For example, a total of 10.5 million euros was allocated for the arrival of Albian Ajeti of West Ham United and goalkeeper Vasilios Barkas of AEK Athens. Defender Shane Duffy came on loan from Brighton.