We’ve reached the final qualifying round of the Champions League and some big names enter the fray this week. Will we see some of Europe’s smaller clubs cause some upsets?
Tuesday’s Champions League Betting : The New Saints vs Anderlecht
BetRepublic.com previews a selection of games here.
The New Saints vs Anderlecht Soccer Betting Tips :
This match sees the Welsh champions face the Belgian champions for a place in the Champions League Playoff for a place in the group stages of the competition. Books make Anderlecht the 1/4 favourites to win this first leg tie,
with TNS available at 15/2 and the draw can be backed at 19/5.Will this match go according to the odds?
TNS booked their place in this match by beating Bohemians from the Republic of Ireland 4-1 on aggregate in the second qualifying round last week. There defeat of the Irish champions was the first ever occasion that they had won a Champions League qualifying tie, and they did so in impressive style by beating Bohemians 4-0 at home in the second leg after losing the first leg 1-0 in Dublin. Can TNS cause a bigger shock by beating the Belgian champions?
Although The New Saints will be in a highly confident mood after beating Bohemians, Anderlecht will be equally confident after kicking off their season last weekend with a 1-0 win in the Belgian Super Cup. They also reached the last sixteen stage of last year’s Europa Cup and will be a much tougher team for the Welsh champions to take on than their last opponents.
Despite the Park Hall Stadium being the scene of their greatest European football achievement, I feel that Anderlecht will be too good for TNS this week and will take the victory. As a result my is on Anderlecht to win by at least two goals (Anderlecht -1) at odds of 10/11 and Anderlecht to be leading at half time and full time at odds of 5/6
Unirea Urziceni v Zenit St. Petersburg Soccer Betting Tips :
This match sees the side that finished second in the Romanian league face the team that placed third in the Russian league last season go head-to-head for a place in the playoffs.The Russians the favourites at odds of 8/11, with Unirea available at 3/1 and the draw can be backed at 12/5. Will Zenit take an advantage back to Russia?
Zenit are fourteen games into their domestic season and they lead the table by seven points, so on current form they deserve to be the favourites for this game.
However, Unirea have the Champions League experience having been drawn in the same group as Sevilla, Stuttgart and Rangers in last year’s competition. They amassed a total of eight points from their six games and just missed out a place in the last sixteen as they lost to Stuttgart in the final game.
However, Zenit know their way around European competition as they won the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in 2008.
I feel that this will be an exciting match with plenty of action and goals, so my money is on Zenit St Petersburg to win at odds of 8/11 and more than 2.5 goals to be scored at odds of 11/8.
Dynamo Kiev v AA Gent:
The final game that we are previewing is the battle between the runners up in last season’s Ukrainian league and the second placed finishers in the Belgian league. Online sportsbooks make Dynamo the massive favourites to taste victory in this first leg tie at odds of 1/5, with Gent available at 10/1 and the draw is available at odds of 4/1.
Both of these sides have only recently began their domestic seasons, with Dynamo having won two and drawn one of their first three league games and Gent lost the season opening Super Cup to Anderlecht 1-0 at the weekend. Dynamo have scored two goals in each of their matches so far and I would not be surprised to see them outscore Gent in this match and bring a sizeable advantage to Belgium next week for the second leg of this tie.
Of the two sides, Dynamo are the more well known side in European competition and they made their name by reaching the Quarter Finals of the Champions League in 1998 and the Semi Finals the following year.
They reached the Semi Finals of the UEFA Cup in 2009 also. Gent last passed the qualification rounds for any European competition in 2000 and they will be massively outclassed in this match.
My money is on Dynamo Kiev to be leading at half time and then win the match at odds of 5/6 and more than 2.5 goals to be scored in the match at odds of 4/6.
BetRepublic.com Recommends:
Anderlecht -1 v TNS @ 10/11
Anderlecht/Anderlecht HT/FT v TNS @ 5/6
Zenit St. Petersburg to beat Unirea Urziceni @ 8/11
More than 2.5 goals in the Zenit v Unirea match @ 11/8
Dynamo Kiev/Dynamo Kiev HT/FT v Gent @ 5/6
More than 2.5 goals to be scored in the Dynamo v Gent match @ 4/6
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