5 Ways Celtic Can Beat Malmo And Qualify For Champions League
3. Use The Advantage At Set-Pieces
Traditionally Celtic have found set-pieces to be one of their most dangerous weapons in European football. This season doesn’t look to be any different, with 3 of Celtic’s 7 Champions League goals so far having been headers from corners.
With players like Virgil Van Dijk, Nir Bitton, Dedryck Boyata and Mikael Lustig all likely start, Celtic will have no shortage of targets in the box for corners and free kicks, whilst Stefan Johansen and Stuart Armstrong have both proven themselves to be very capable of putting dangerous crosses in for these big men.
The set-piece against Malmo will again be a big weapon, especially when you consider the clear height advantage. Comparing the heights of the players that started for each team in their previous Champions League ties (Qarabağ 0-0 Celtic & Malmo 3-0 Red Bull Salzburg) reveals the extent of this advantage.
Celtic had 5 of the 6 tallest players across the two teams, whilst Malmo had 4 of the 6 smallest players (assuming the heights listed on the players' Wikipedia pages are accurate).