Celtic hopes to win for the first time since their match against Slovan on matchday one when they host RB Leipzig at Parkhead in the Champions League this evening. On their first night in the League Phase, the Hoops crushed the Slovakian team 5-1 in Glasgow, but their subsequent two games have not been as easy. Despite leading 5-1 at halftime, Brendan Rodgers’ team suffered a crushing 7-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund in Germany after defeating Slovan
After that, they fought hard to earn a 0-0 draw away at Atalanta in their most recent Champions League meeting, giving them four points from their first three games. In Bergamo, the home team dominated the game with 66% of the possession and built up 2.38 xG worth of chances without scoring, forcing the Scottish giants to work hard to secure a draw.
Leipzig are currently second in the Bundesliga, with six wins and five goals conceded in nine games, and Celtic could face a similar test at Parkhead this evening, which means that they will have to contain the German side’s biggest threats.
RB Leipzig’s biggest threats
They typically line up in a 4-4-2 or 4-2-2-2 system and this means that they often have two centre-forwards to occupy the defence and cause problems in the final third.
Those two strikers have, for the majority of this season, been Lois Openda and Benjamin Sesko, who both offer different kinds of attributes at the top end of the pitch.
Openda is a fleet-footed, mobile, marksman who likes to make runs off the last line and has showcased his goalscoring quality this term, with five goals in eight Bundesliga starts, although he is yet to score in Europe.
Leipzig’s biggest threat in the Champions League so far, though, has been Sesko, who has scored three goals in three games in the competition – with two strikes against Juventus and one against Dortmund.
The 6 foot 5 titan has also won the majority of his aerial battles, winning 2.3 per game on average, and scored two headers across both competitions, which illustrates how much of a challenge it will be to keep him quiet tonight.
Sesko is a centre-forward who offers quality in front of goal, as shown by his xG overperformance, as well as a physical presence for the centre-backs to deal with, which is why Rodgers must brutally ditch Auston Trusty from his starting XI.
Why Auston Trusty should be dropped
The USA international, who was signed from Sheffield United on a permanent deal in the summer transfer window, was selected to start alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers in the 6-0 win over Aberdeen in the League Cup at Hampden Park on Saturday.
His performance was rewarded with a player rating of 8/10 from The Scotsman, who wrote that the centre-back was rarely troubled by the Dons and kept things neat and tidy in possession.
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