Manchester United take on Celtic in back-to-back UEFA Champions League games, dubbed the ‘Battle of Britain!’ The games are scheduled to take place at 1945GMT on Tuesday 21 October and Wednesday 5 November and both are great opportunities to take advantage of the free bet offer available from online bookmakers, Betfair and Skybet.

Current Champions League holders, Manchester United extended their unbeaten European home record to 16 games when they drew 0-0 with Spanish outfit, Villarreal in their opening Group E fixture. This draw was followed by a 3-0 mauling of AaB, courtesy of goals from Wayne Rooney and two goals from Berbatov, his first for the club. Manchester United will be without the services of injured duo Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick for the home time on October 21 but with Cristiano Ronaldo rapidly returning to fitness and form, and Wayne Rooney finding his scoring boots again, Alex Ferguson will be confident of at least four points from a possible six against Gordon Strachan’s side.

Celtic have not had the best of starts to their 2008/09 Champions League campaign, with a 0-0 draw at home to AaB followed by a 1-0 defeat away to Villarreal. The defeat in Spain extended Celtic’s streak to 18 away games without a victory in Europe! Celtic played Manchester United in the 2006/07 Champions League, losing 3-2 at Old Trafford but beating their rivals 1-0 at home. One of the scorers that day, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, will miss both fixtures after limping off injured after just one minute of play in Celtic’s 4-0 win over Hamilton on October 11.

With Manchester United’s brilliant home form and Celtic’s abysmal away form in this competition, it seems a safe bet for a home win for Alex Ferguson’s side come October 21. After a shaky start, Celtic are aware they now have a small mountain to climb if they are to progress to the knockout stages. This explosive fixture is ideal to take advantage of Betfair and Skybet’s free bet offer. Free bets can be placed, at market leading odds on options such as half-time/full time result, can Manchester United keep a clean sheet, will anybody be sent off and who will win, Manchester United or Celtic to name just a few of the available betting markets.