Charlie Nicholas predicts Celtic v PSG
By Danny Wright
Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas believes that Celtic will fall to an unsurprising defeat at the hands of Paris-Saint Germain in the Champions League group stage on Tuesday night.
The former Hoops forward has predicted that PSG will walk away from Celtic Park with all three points thanks to a 3-1 victory, but he is hopeful that he is proven wrong.
Brendan Rodgers’ side have been drawn an unbelievably though group in Europe’s most prestigious competitions, arguably harder than last term’s which saw them pitted against Barcelona and Manchester City.
German and Belgian champions Bayern Munich and Anderlecht also await the Hoops in Group B
PSG have recently assembled the most expensive attack force in world football after splashing the cash on Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in the summer.
However Nicholas is more concerned about Uruguayan international Edinson Cavani and his goalscoring tenacity.
“Celtic play a lovely flowing game but still got well beaten at times in Europe last season. They are used to 60 to 65 per cent possession but you have to adapt with PSG’s forward line. If you don’t and leave yourself wide open to the counter-attack then you will get destroyed with the pace of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani,” said Nicholas on the Sky Sports website.
“Cavani is the one that really concerns me. His movement is incredible, he’s very, very brave and his runs across the line are a nightmare for defenders.
“Celtic will be in their faces from the start and my old friend Scott Brown won’t let me down with a booking, and I think they will rack up a fair few cards. I hope I’m wrong here but I can’t see anything other than a PSG win.”
The Bhoys go into Tuesday’s showdown off the back of going top of the Scottish Premiership standings thanks to their 4-1 win over Hamilton at the SuperSeal Stadium on Friday night.
PSG are also in good form having dispatched of Metz, also on Friday, by winning 5-1.
Bayern welcome Anderlecht to the Allianz Arena in the other Group B clash on Tuesday night.
In other Celtic news, Chris Sutton has launched a dig at Pedro Caixinha after Rodgers’ latest comments.
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