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Steaua Bucharest from Romania hosts Aktobe from Kazakhstan in the Champions League 3rd qualifying round, second leg. The first leg result was 2-2.
Steaua played its worst game of the season in Kazakhstan but was still very close to get a winning result, leading 1-0 and 2-1 and being equalized towards the end of the match. Steaua changed the coach in the summer and lost a couple of important players but the team still looks good and got very good results in the start of the season: 5 wins and 2 draws. They won easily 3-1 in the weekend vs. a decent Craiova side, also resting some players. The hosts have a good squad for this level and everybody is confident that they will qualify for the next round … actually I think they are overly optimistic with their statements but it remains to be seen if they will back it up. Steaua still without key center back Gardos but otherwise have no squad problems.
Steaua lineup: Arlauskis – Rapa, Varela, Szukala, Latovlevici – Prepelita, Sanmartean – Ad. Popa, Tanase, Chipciu – Keseru
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Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle. |
Aktobe is a strange team: they just managed to finish the league regular season 1st last week but they won only 2 of the last 9 games in Kazakhstan and 1 month ago they lost 7-1 to Kairat! In UCL they beat Tbilisi 4-0 aggregate but the matches were much closer and Tbilisi lost a lot of strength from last season. Clearly Aktobe is a limited side, it was also seen in the first game. They will have a harder time this time on the road.
FC Aktobe lineup: Sidelnikov – Miroshnichenko, Muldarov, Arzumanyan, Anderson Mineiro – Korobkin, Tsarikayev – Danilo Neco, Pizzelli, Khairullin – Antonov
Steaua is a different animal at home and they should qualify without too many problems here. In the previous round they beat Stromsgodset 1-0 and 2-0, and Stromsgodset is at least on the same level with Aktobe. If Steaua almost won in Kazakhstan by playing a very poor game, I can’t see them having problems at home in Romania, where they always won comfortably in these qualifying stages. Maybe the hosts lost a little bit of strength from last season but even so they are one of the best teams playing at this early UCL level. Expect Steaua to dominate the game from the start and put a couple of goals past their inferior opponents. My tip will be Steaua to win with a 1,5 handicap. In my opinion the pick on Steaua to cover this handicap is the best bet of the day. Correct score prediction: Steaua Bucharest – Aktobe 3-0.
Pick: Steaua (-1,5)
Odds: 2.22 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 12.2
Event date: 6 August
