After a couple of surprise upbeat predictions about Celtic the real Charlie Nicholas has returned to write off the hoops chances against Lazio on Thursday night.
According to the Sky Sports pundit Celtic were fortunate to beat the Italian side a fortnight ago and believes that Lazio should have been two or three goals up!
It seems that Nicholas only had an eye on Lazio chances in the first match, for 40 minutes Celtic dominated the game in Glasgow before being hit with a classic counter-attack.
After a shaky start to the second half Neil Lennon made a substitution, Ryan Christie equalised in the 67th minute before Christopher Jullien headed the winner in the 88th minute.
Nicholas seems to have a very different take on that match as he explained to Sky Sports:
I am feeling a bit awkward about this one. Celtic did brilliantly to beat them with a last-gasp winner first time around. I did flag up a 2-1 win, but they were fortunate. Celtic needed to take a good scalp eventually.
In this one, do they attack, counter-attack or sit in? They are not a team that naturally sit in. Domestically, they have 70 per cent of the ball. Celtic are getting better at it and Neil Lennon is asking them to play the ball forward much quicker.
Lazio will be angry and agitated as they should have gone two or three up at Celtic Park. The Serie A side must win here to stay in the group. Cluj will win I think so it may come down to head-to-head with these two sides. Lazio went fourth in Serie A and will get their revenge in this one.
Charlie predicts 1-0 Lazio.
According to UEFA statistics Lazio edged Celtic on possession 51% to 49% but in terms of shots on goal Celtic led 14-10 and also led on corners by 5-3.
In January Nicholas tipped Celtic to lose the SPFL title when Steven Gerrard brought Steve Davis and Jermain Defoe to Ibrox.
