Preview: Celtic vs Malmo

Celtic and Swedish side Malmo meet for the first time on Wednesday night in the first-leg of their Champions League play-off match at Celtic Park.

The team from Glasgow come into the match in decent form having taken 10 points from a possible 12 in their opening fixtures. The only dropped points of the season came in a 2-2 draw away at Kilmarnock, meaning they currently lie second behind Hearts in the Scottish Premiership table.

Ronny Delia’s side have reached this stage after defeating Stjarnan and FK Qarabag as they aim to get to the Champions League group stages, which they missed out on last season.

The visitors, who were in last term’s group stage, have beaten Zalgiris and Salzburg and with the threat of Magnus Wolff Eikrem, Jo Inge Berget and Markus Rosenberg, they’ll be confident of causing problems to the Hoops.

Age Hareide’s side currently lie fifth in the Allsvenskan but have a decent record in the 2015 season having won 10 and drawn seven of their 20 matches. The 2014 champions won the Swedish league by six points, only losing four of their 30 domestic fixtures.

Delia feels his side are in great shape heading into the match, and the Bhoys are yet to concede in four matches against Swedish opposition. However, the visitors are also four UEFA fixtures unbeaten against Scottish teams.

Nadir Ciftci is back in the squad as his current suspension only applies to domestic matches, Scott Allan could be handed a debut after completing his move from Hibernian, while Kris Commons is available after recovering from a dead leg.

League Position: Celtic – 2nd 10pts; Malmo FF – 5th, 37pts
League Form: Celtic – WDWW; Malmo – DWDWW
Key Men: Celtic – Nadir Ciftci; Malmo – Markus Rosenberg

Shoot Says: Celtic 1-0 Malmo