Celtic have the opportunity to make to a push for the automatic places when they travel to a troubled Dinamo Zagreb this evening, the first meeting since the sides met in the group stages ten years ago.

The Glasgow side recovered well from their 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Dortmund to earn themselves five points against some strong opposition in Atalanta, RB Leipzig and Club Brugge, taking their total tally to eight.

Sitting only two points off the top eight, Brendan Rodgers will know that a win in a Croatia will at least give the side a much needed buffer for the play-off spot.

Hosts Dinamo Zagreb find themselves in a similar predicament, sat just one point behind Celtic in the standings.

The club which has been graced by the likes of Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovavic and once Celtic goalscoring machine Mark Viduka, will likely see this fixture as their best chance at three points before facing Arsenal and AC Milan.

Celtic will hope for a more positive result than  their last visit to Zagreb in 2014 when Marko Pjaca, who is expected to feature tonight, grabbed a hat-trick on route to a 4-3 victory for the Croatians.

No home comforts for Celtic

Be it in the East End or on the road, Celtic have steamrolled their way to the top of the table and look set to retain the title before the New Year.

Europe however, is a different kettle of fish and the stats don’t paint a promising picture ahead of tonight’s clash.

Winless away from home, Celtic have missed the impact the atmosphere has on shrinking opponents but their own style of play too.

Possession at home in their European campaign is an impressive 61% but drops to 41% away from Glasgow.

Meanwhile their xG for goes from 1.65 to 0.8 whilst xG again rises from 0.94 to 2.53.

It is hardly a new problem for Celtic, who managed just one win in six games from their two previous group stages.

Like the constantly flashing symbols on my car’s dashboard, statistics don’t always tell the whole truth, but they do offer a warning that should be heeded for those who want to ensure safety on the road.

Out of sorts but not out yet

It has not been plain sailing for the Croatian’s this season.

Despite capturing the last seven league titles, Dinamo sit third in the league with just one win from their last seven games.

Worse still, they suffered a humiliating 9-2 defeat at the hands of Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich in their opening game of the group stage.

However bouncing back to earn a draw with Monaco before grabbing six points away to RB Salzburg and Slovan Bratislava shows they are no slouches.

Conversely to Celtic, their struggles have been for the most part at home this season, having not won a game at the Stadio Maksimir since September.

Celtic will know themselves from the Dortmund fallout, underestimate teams in this competition at your peril.