5 Tips for Sunday’s European Football Action - 12/12/21

On Sunday, Celtic host Motherwell at Celtic Park in a battle of second versus fifth in the Scottish Premiership.

Ange Postecoglou’s side have been involved in three matches that have seen both teams score out of the last five they have played, following a 3-2 loss to Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa league, before then beating Real Betis 3-2, as well as defeating Aberdeen 3-2 at Pittodrie thanks to goals by Jota and Callum McGregor.

Motherwell come into this match having won three of their last five matches, so are in good form, following two 2-0 victories over Aberdeen and Hearts, as well as a narrow 1-0 win over Dundee United. Last time out, the Well drew 1-1 against Hibernian.

In the last meeting between these two sides at Celtic Park in February, the home side won 2-1 via goals by Stephen Welsh and Odsonne Edouard, with Allan Campbell’s 66th minute goal turning out to be a consolation goal.

Napoli go head to head with Empoli at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, with Luciano Spaletti’s side looking to refind their form having won just one of their last five league matches.

Spaletti’s men are currently two points off top spot, having drawn 2-2 with Sassuolo and lost 3-2 to Atalanta in their last two league games off the back of a 4-0 hammering of Lazio. What will encourage Napoli is their 3-2 victory over Leicester City in the Europa League which has seen them qualify for the knockout rounds.

Empoli have shown in recent weeks that they can be a tough opponent to face, as they have won two of their last three matches, defeating both Udinese and Fiorentina 3-1 and 2-1 on either side of a 2-2 draw away at Torino.

Second in Serie A, Inter Milan host 18th place Cagliari at the San Siro looking to chase down city rivals AC Milan who sit just one point ahead of them.

Inter have won four of their last five matches across all competitions, doing so prior to their 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid in midweek, having beaten Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League, before defeating Venezia 2-0, Spezia 2-0 and hammering AS Roma 3-0 via goals from Hakan Calhanoglu, Edin Dzeko and Denzel Dumfries.

Cagliari are without a win in their last five games, drawing four of them 1-1 against both Torino and Salernitana, as well as 0-0 and 2-2 against Hellas Verona and Sassuolo, just after a 2-1 loss to Atalanta.

35-year-old Bosnian striker, Dzeko, has scored eight goals and created two assists in 16 Serie A matches, including last time out against Roma.

The Madrid derby takes place at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday, as Real Madrid take on Atletico Madrid.

At present, Real have won all of their last five games across all competitions, as they have beaten both Inter Milan and Sheriff 2-0 and 3-0, as well as defeating Real Sociedad 2-0, Athletic Bilbao 1-0 and Sevilla 2-1.

Meanwhile, Atletico have won just three of their last five, having beaten Osasuna 1-0, Cadiz 4-1 and Porto 3-1, losing 1-0 and 2-1 to both AC Milan and Mallorca.

Two players that we are focussing on in this tip are French duo Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann. The former has scored 17 goals and created eight assists in 20 matches, whilst Griezmann has found the back of the net seven times in 17 games.

The final tip on this list comes from the Parc des Princes where PSG host AS Monaco in a battle of first versus seventh in the table.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side come into this match is patchy form, having won just one of their last five matches, following a 2-1 loss to Manchester City at Etihad Stadium, where goals from Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus won Pep Guardiola’s men the match despite Kylian Mbappe initially putting the Parisian’s in the lead.

Following their loss to City, PSG beat Saint-Etienne 3-1, before drawing 0-0 and 1-1 with Nice and Lens, but, hammered Club Brugge 4-1 in midweek where Mbappe and Lionel Messi both scored braces.

Monaco come into this match off the back of a 1-1 draw with Sturm Graz in the Europa League, having defeated Metz and Angers 4-0 and 3-1 after drawing with Strasbourg 1-1. Prior to their draw against Strasbourg, the Stade Louis II club beat Real Sociedad 2-1 in the Europa League in late November.