Viitorul – APOEL

FC Viitorul Constanta will host APOEL Nicosia at their small stadium in Ovidiu, with the Romanian side making its debut in the Champions League qualifiers.

Viitorul’s league winning campaign last season in Romania was a massive surprise, as the hosts are a small club with no fans or money, newly founded by ex Romanian footballer Gheorghe Hagi (also the coach of the team). Viitorul is mostly composed by young players from their own academy and they managed to take advantage of the poor level of competition to win the league last season, tied in points with FCSB. However, this season Viitorul hasn`t started well, as they lost 2 of the 3 official matches they played and their level of football was poor.

APOEL Nicosia won the Cyprus league for the 5th consecutive time last season and also had an excellent European campaign, reaching the Europa League round of last 16 (won a group with Olympiakos, Young Boys & Astana, knocked out Bilbao, lost to Anderlecht). The visitors have not yet started their domestic league, but already played two matches in the Champions League qualifying stage, recording an unimpressive win against Luxembourgese side Dudelange (1-0, 1-0).

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Team news: Viitorul has a full squad to choose from. However, two of their best players, Eric (not fit) and Coman (indiscipline), will start from the bench. Ioannou is a long term injury for APOEL, while Pote injured himself right before the trip to Romania and won`t play.

Viitorul isn`t expected to repeat the campaign they had last season. The squad hasn`t changed much, which is a good thing on one hand, but a bad thing on the other, as they really lack quality. Viitorul’s league winning campaign happened due to a mix of fortunate circumstances, and the current roster does not seem good enough to compete for a top 3 finish in Romania, let alone in the Champions League.

The hosts do have a couple of interesting young players but nothing special, and the veterans that complete the squad are mostly washed up. The level of football Viitorul played in the start of this season was poor, their defense looked horrible and they also failed to score in 2 of their 3 matches.

The hosts have no European experience, having played a single tie in their entire history: a pathetic 0-5 aggregate loss to Gent last season in the Europa League, in which they looked completely overwhelmed.

APOEL are far from being world beaters and they didn`t look that good in the previous round against Dudelange, but they are definitely a better team than Viitorul and have a ton more of European experience. Chances are they will step on the gas a little bit and improve on the performance they had against the Luxembourg champions.

I expect the visitors to do the job with professionalism here. I don`t think they will play great football, but I can see them playing the kind of match they need to put themselves in pole position for qualification. Look for APOEL’s experience to be a big factor against this young Viitorul team.

I was initially thinking about betting on the draw (or draw – APOEL win no bet), but I think there`s a serious chance for APOEL to do just enough to snatch a win.

As such, my tip will be APOEL to cover the +0,5 handicap, and I will invest maximum stakes on this bet. Prediction: Viitorul Constanta – APOEL Nicosia 0-1.

Pick: APOEL +0,5
Odds: 1.52 @ 18Bet
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 5.20
Event date: 26 July