Celtic v Cliftonville Prediction 16th July 2013

Celtic v Cliftonville Betting Preview  
Since the draw was released for the second qualification round of this year?s Champions League. This will be the first steps into this year?s competition for the Scottish Champions Celtic as they make the short journey across the Irish Sea to face Northern Irish side Cliftonville. This will be the first meeting between the two sides as well as the first time either side have faced opposition from the other?s country. There is naturally a strong favourite for betting in this one.

Celtic v Cliftonville Betting Odds at online bookmaker Ladbrokes 
Celtic 1/6, Draw 5/1, Cliftonville 14/1

Online bookmaker Promotion 
Some great live in play betting coverage is available at online betting site Ladbrokes, who run a promotion for all live televised matches. The bookie offers a Money Back special if there is a red card in any televised football match. Ladbrokes will refund losing Correct Score and Next Goalscorer live in play bets up to the value of £25 as a free bet, if a red card gets shown. New customers to Ladbrokes can get up to £30 in free bets as a welcome bonus.  

Celtic v Cliftonville Recommended Bet:  
The duel between Celtic and Cliftonville goes off in the second qualification round of the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League. The two will come together first of all in Belfast on Wednesday, and they will go at it again in the second at Celtic Park in Glasgow a week later. Neil Lennon?s men will be hoping for as successful of a campaign in the tournament as they produced last term. The Scottish Champions went all the way to the last sixteen, where they were outclassed by Serie A champions Juventus. However, along the way, the Bhoys covered themselves in pride and glory as they beat Barcelona in the group stage. Celtic are here because the champions of Scotland no longer get an automatic place in the main draw of the Champions League, so Celtic have to go through all of this and will be favourites to comfortably get through this opening trial.

Whoever wins this match up, with Celtic being strong favourites, there will still be two more qualification rounds to get through. As Champions of Scotland though, Celtic do have an advantage because they are one of the seeded teams in qualification, which should guarantee them pretty smooth access to the main draw. The long journey all starts on Wednesday night in Belfast. Cliftonville did the double last term, winning the Irish Premiership Champions and Irn Bru League Cup Winners in 2013. They have been preparing for this with some hard work through pre-season friendly matches, but the games against Celtic are going to be absolutely massive tests for them.

This is the second time that Cliftonville have been in the Champions League incidentally. They contested the first qualification round of the tournament in 1998/99. They unfortunately lost both of their matches on that occasion though, heavily so. They lost 13-1 on aggregate against Slovenian side Kosice on that occasion. Their last foray in Europe was the fist qualification round in the 2011/12 Europa League, where they lost 2-1 on aggregate against Maltese side TNS. So little doubt at the bookies as to who the favourite is for this one, and in last season?s successful run, Celtic won seven of their twelve matches, losing four.