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Steaua Bucharest takes on Partizan Belgrade in an evenly matched Champions League third round qualifying clash. The match will be played behind closed doors, so no fans for the Romanians.
Steaua Bucuresti is still the most dominating force in Romanian football, but their quality decreased steadily and considerably over the last three seasons. Almost all top players are gone and replacements are of doubtful quality. Coaching has suffered a big downgrade as well, with old player Mirel Radoi being appointed for the first time as a coach, just because he`s related to the owner. It`s obvious that this is the worst team of Steaua in the last 4 years and their start of the season was poor.
Steaua lost the Supercup at home, won a single match in the first three rounds in Romania (though they used the second team last weekend against CFR, 1-1) and were very fortunate to get past Trencin in the Champions League second qualifying round. The first leg in Slovakia was a tight one, with Trencin as the slightly better team, but somehow Steaua took their chances and scored twice for a 2-0 winning result. In Bucharest, Steaua played an absolutely abysmal match, Trencin was 2-0 up after 20 minutes and they could have easily added 1 or 2 more goals until half time. In the second half Steaua scored twice in 2 minutes from a fluke goal and a penalty. Trencin continued to be more dangerous, even with 10 men, scored another but could not take their chances for a 4th goal.
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Partizan has been excellent this season, winning all their 4 games without conceding a goal – including 3-0 aggregate with Dila Gori and a 6-0 league win over the weekend. They are looking like a cohesive team, well organized and disciplined with a couple of talented players that can make the difference. However, Steaua will be Partizan`s biggest test of the season.
Projected lineups:
Steaua: Cojocaru – Alcénat, Papp, Varela, Guilherme – Breeveld, Muniru – Ad. Popa, Stanciu, Chipciu – Tadé
Partizan: Živković – Bandalovski, Balažic, Fabrisio, Petrović – Jevtović, Lukić – Živković, Ilić, Ninković – Bojinov
Both teams rested some players over the weekend, though Steaua actually rested the whole team, which could end up being a good thing or a bad thing. Partizan are no world beaters, but you have to feel they are the more solid and cohesive side right now, boosting better morale as well. Steaua was so vulnerable in the previous round against Trencin, they haven`t been able to dominate in Romania either, so it`s hard to see them winning this game – especially with the added disadvantage of having no fans in the stands. Home court advantage doesn`t mean much for Steaua anyway these days, after all they did not win a single home game this season (and just 2 of 6 overall).
Look for a balanced game of football, Steaua shouldn`t disturb Partizan too much and in the end a draw is the most likely result. All in all, my tip here is Partizan to cover a +0,5 handicap. Prediction: Steaua Bucharest – Partizan Belgrade 0-0.
Pick: Partizan +0,5
Odds: 1.72 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 5.76
Event date: 29 July
