Juve could pay the penalty

Neil Lennon admitted Celtic need a footballing miracle to reach the Champions League quarter-finals having lost the first leg 3-0 at home to Juventus - and who could possibly disagree?

In the bookies' eyes, the miracle Lennon is hoping for is as big as 100/1 with bet365 and even the most optimistic of Hoops fans will have to think several times before parting with so much as a pound on this highly improbable outcome.

It's a great shame this memorable Champions League journey, which included their unforgettable victory over Barcelona, looks set to end in such damp squib fashion but had the referee not been so lenient on Juventus' penalty-box defending at Parkhead, then this tie might be balanced a little more evenly.

Lennon was fuming with the performance of Spanish ref Alberto Undiano Mallenco for not spotting the heavy-handed marking techniques employed by the visitors and felt his side should have been given at least one spot kick.

Nevertheless, the Bhoys were ruthlessly put to the sword by two late goals from Claudio Marchisio and Mirko Vucinic after Alessandro Matri had delivered a very early blow to pull the plug on the electric atmosphere which greeted the sides into the stadium.

Lennon, who escaped punishment for branding Mallenco "very pro-Juventus", sought feedback from UEFA over the official's display and unsurprisingly the issue has become a talking point ahead of the second leg.

In his pre-match press conference, the Hoops boss urged Wednesday night's referee - Turkey's Firat Aydinus - to be on the look-out for similar tactics and also admitted he would instruct his players to highlight any man-handling in the penalty area.

He also added: "I watched their game against Napoli on Friday night and (Napoli striker Edinson) Cavani was being wrestled a bit and had his hair pulled which you don't often see in the modern game."

Assistant manager Johan Mjallby made similar observations from Juventus' 1-1 draw with Napoli and also outlined how Celtic will be seeking to put the Old Lady - and indeed the referee - under more pressure from set-plays.

He said: "We are a threat at set-pieces. We have to believe we can score when we have corner-kicks for example, and we are not going to change things because during this campaign we have been quite successful at set-pieces."

Celtic may well be all but out of this tie but we can expect them to try and bow out with a sense of pride while their Italian opponents won't need to play beyond themselves to secure a safe passage into the next round.

Juventus do of course have a much closer domestic title race to worry about than Celtic, who head into this clash 16 points clear of Motherwell.

This could lead to Celtic being able to enjoy spells on the front foot and pump balls into the box so with all this in mind we're going to sway from the traditional markets and instead look at prices for Celtic to get that elusive penalty - even if it does come far too little too late for them to stay in the competition.

The SPL champions are 14/1 with bet365 and Blue Square to score a penalty and 40/1 with the former firm to miss one.

To play much safer, you can take William Hill's 3/1 about either team being awarded a penalty but on this occasion I fancy chasing the bigger rewards given how much of the spotlight has focused on Juventus' 'rugby'-style marking.

Wednesday night's other match could witness David Beckham make his return to the Champions League when Paris St Germain defend a 2-1 aggregate lead against Valencia.

The former England skipper hasn't played in the competition since AC Milan went out to Manchester United three years ago but on Tuesday he was named in Carlo Ancelotti's 20-man squad, which is without suspended duo Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marco Verratti.

With winger Jeremy Menez also out injured, Beckham could feature at the Parc des Princes but without wanting to sound disrespectful for one of English sport's finest role models, this will hardly alarm the Spanish visitors.

The absence of Ibrahimovic, who was needlessly sent off in the final moments of PSG's 2-1 win at the Mestalla, may prove crucial while the Ligue 1 leaders head into this encounter on the back of a shock 1-0 defeat at Reims.

Valencia are currently fifth in La Liga following the weekend's 2-2 draw with Levante and face a real battle to finish in the Champions League qualifying spots while the odds suggest their participation in this season's competition is about to end.

Considering they need at least two goals on the night to stand a chance of reaching the quarter-finals, Los Che are as big as 6/1 in places to qualify while PSG are no bigger than 1/8.

However, it might be worth siding with the Spaniards at 7/2 with Sky Bet to take advantage of PSG's absentees and win the second leg. They have little option but to go for it and certainly have the quality to cause problems.