Aston Villa vs Celtic – Match preview and team news

The Football Faithful

Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 4:34 a.m.·4 min read

Aston Villa vs Celtic – Match preview and team news

Aston Villa entertain Celtic tonight in the Champions League with both sides vying for a place in the last 16.

Villa only sit outside the top eight – the places which guarantee a spot in the knockout stages – on goal difference.

January signing Donyell Malen is ineligible as he isn’t registered in their European squad. Emiliano Buendia isn’t expected to play a part tonight with a move to Bayer Leverkusen reportedly imminent.

Villa Park. Tonight. 💥 pic.twitter.com/ohbnLJfdBD
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) January 29, 2025

Tyrone Mings will be assessed after the knee injury which forced him off at the weekend wasn’t as bad as initially feared. John McGinn is fit to start but Amadou Onana, Pau Torres and Ross Barkley remain out.

Scottish giants Celtic are only a point behind the Villans after an encouraging European campaign.

However, they travel to Villa Park without influential forward Daizen Maeda who is suspended. The Japanese attacker was shown a straight red card in the Hoops’ last game in this competition against Young Boys.

Portuguese winger Jota won’t be able to reintroduce himself to the Celtic faithful for a few weeks due to a muscular issue. James Forrest is still struggling with a foot injury.

Aston Villa vs Celtic – Match preview and team news

Form

Aston Villa: WWDLD

Unai Emery’s side couldn’t hold on to an early lead against West Ham at the weekend.

Jacob Ramsey struck first after neat interchange with Ollie Watkins but Emerson equalised midway through the second half.

Consecutive league stalemates leave them in eighth position, four points outside of the top four. In Europe, Villa have had a memorable campaign and victory against Celtic could be enough to see them advance into the last 16.

Their hopes of avoiding the playoffs took a hit last Tuesday after they were narrowly defeated away to Monaco.

They have already overcome the likes of Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig, but disappointing losses to Monaco and Club Brugge may halt their automatic progression.

Celtic: WWDWW

Brendan Rogers’ outfit have impressed in Europe this term and a place in the knockout stages is a realistic possibility.

The Scottish giants have only lost one of their seven matches in the Champions League – a humbling 7-1 defeat to last season’s finalists Borussia Dortmund.

They secured a crucial three points last week with a 1-0 triumph over Young Boys.

The scoreline deceived the action-packed nature of the clash, which included Celtic missing a penalty, having three goals disallowed for offside and a red card.

The Bhoys haven’t progressed into the knockout stages of Europe’s elite competition since 2012. They are already guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, but a victory could see them sneak in the top eight.

Celtic are comfortably top of the Scottish Premiership with a ten-point gap between them and fierce rivals Rangers.

Last Meeting: N/A

This is the first competitive encounter between the two sides, although they did contest a friendly back in 1896 advertised as the ‘International League Championship.’ Scottish champions Celtic beat English champions Aston Villa 3-2 at Celtic Park. Sandy McMahon netted the winner in Glasgow.

Predicted Lineups

Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Kamara, Digne; Tielemans, McGinn, Ramsey, Bailey, Rogers; Watkins.

Celtic: Schmeichel; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Trusty, Taylor; Engels, McGregor, Hatate; Kuhn, Idah, Bernardo.

Who is the referee?

French referee Clement Turpin will be the match official. Nicolas Danos and Benjamin Pages will assist him while Romain Lissorgue will be the fourth official. The VAR will be Jerome Brisard and he will be assisted by Rob Dieperink.