Celtic are currently sitting in 15th place in the Champions League with seven points and Club Brugge is up next.
The Belgians are currently on six points and before both teams take to the pitch tomorrow, both Celtic and Brugge know that if they can get a Champions League win tomorrow night, a play-off place is virtually guaranteed.
Opta believes that for Celtic to gain a play-off place out of the league, then nine points should be enough but pundit, Ewen Cameron, has predicted an even better outcome for the Parkhead club.
Celtic have a ‘great chance’ of top eight Champions League finish
Cameron told The Big Scottish Football Podcast, “Club Brugge have had some mixed results in the Champions League, but I still think Celtic at home [can get the win]. I mean, I’ve called it all season before a ball was kicked.
“They’re going to get out of that group. And I would not rule Celtic out of finishing in the top eight. I think they’ve got it in them to get, I think the next couple of games, I think they get six points and that would put them on 14 with that.
“I think they’ve got a great chance, genuinely got a great chance. And the problem that Celtic have got about finishing into top eight is that result that Aston Villa got in the last round of games when they were expected to win the loss by a goal.
Celtic’s remaining Champions League fixtures after Club Brugges clash
Celtic are now halfway through their Champions League campaign and have arguably had all their toughest fixtures to date.
However, after Brugge, Celtic still has to negotiate another three fixtures if they want to automatically qualify for the last 16.
A win against Brugge takes Celtic up to ten points. Dinamo Zagreb is up next on the 10th of December and if Celtic can take a point away from home and follow that up with a win against Young Boys, then 14 points could be enough to avoid the play-offs.
However, Aston Villa awaits Celtic at Villa Park and as Brugge proved two weeks ago, the Premier League club are beatable and Brendan Rodgers will believe he can get a result there.
Avoiding defeat will guarantee an automatic qualification place and get Celtic into the final stages of the competition for the first time since 2013.
What an achievement that would be for the Bhoys.
