Match facts ahead of Celtic’s first ever meeting in Europe with Aston Villa

The Celtic Star

·29 janvier 2025

Match facts ahead of Celtic’s first ever meeting in Europe with Aston Villa

Match facts ahead of Celtic’s first ever meeting in Europe with Aston Villa in tonight’s final Champions League group phase outing for the Hoops this season…

Celtic and Atletico Madrid teams come out for the European Cup semi-final first leg at Celtic Park on 10 April 1974. Photo The Celtic Wiki

The most encouraging stat of them all is that Celtic have qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time since 2012/2013. Accumulating three wins in this season’s competition, the last time Celtic won more matches [4] was during their European Cup run of 1973/1974 which saw Jock Stein’s men reach the semi-final.

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A first meeting between Villa and Celtic

Aston Villa and Celtic meet in European competition for the first time ever with Unai Emery’s side aiming for a victory to seal a commendable top eight finish.

The elite Spanish manager has not lost consecutive games in the Champions League since 2015/2016 when he was Seville boss. Suffering a 1-0 defeat in Monaco last week, can Celtic put an end to Emery’s remarkable record this evening?

Villa’s win over Hibs

Villa’s only previous European fixture against both a Scottish and British club came in 2023/2024 Europa Conference League qualifying versus Lee Johnson’s Hibs. Emery’s men trounced the Hibees 5-0 at Easter Road in the first leg, before easing through a week later with a 3-0 victory in Birmingham.

Paddy Roberts scores for Celtic.Man City v Celtic, 6 December 2016, Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Three draws against English opposition

Celtic have drawn each of their last three games against English opposition in the Champions League. The Hoops’ last encounter versus a team south of the border in Europe’s elite club competition came eight-and-a-half years ago at the Etihad in a 1-1 draw with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

Leeds 0-1 Celtic – 1st April 1970. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Celtic only Scottish club to have won on English soil in European Cup/Champions League

Meanwhile, only one Scottish side has ever won on English soil in the European Cup/Champions League. This current group of Celtic players will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Jock Stein’s 1969/1970 side who defeated Leeds 1-0 in April 1970 courtesy of George Connelly’s strike in the European Cup semi-final first leg. Since then, English clubs have gone seven unbeaten versus Scottish opponents – winning five and drawing on two occasions.

Back-to-back wins

Meaningless or not, Celtic won their final Champions League group stage encounter last season with a 2-1 win over Arne Slot’s Feyenoord. The Scottish champions have never previously won their final matchup in back-to-back campaigns in Europe’s top tier club competition.

Callum McGregor acknowledges the fans following the UEFA Champions League match between GNK Dinamo and Celtic FC at Stadion Maksimir on December 10, 2024 in Zagreb, Croatia. (Photo by Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images)

Unwanted reading alert

Celtic have only won one of their previous 21 Champions League away games – losing 15 and drawing five. Despite admirable blanks away to Atalanta in Bergamo and Dinamo Zagreb this season, the Hoops are winless in 11 encounters on the road since their 3-0 victory over Anderlecht in September 2017.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD8 training. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Brendan’s good record against Aston Villa

However, Brendan Rodgers has recorded nine wins from 19 against Aston Villa across the Irishman’s spells at Liverpool, Leicester City and Swansea. Crystal Palace [10 wins] are the only English Premier League side Rodgers has secured more victories over in the dugout.

Despite possessing extraordinary firepower at the front end of the pitch, English duo Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins have yet to find themselves on the scoresheet for Aston Villa in the Champions League this season. The only player to have more attempts than Rogers [14] in Europe’s elite club competition without scoring is AC Milan’s Theo Hernandez [15].

Conor Spence