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The first leg was a very interesting one, with many people predicting the romanians to win big. Despite this, Legia played a solid game on the counters and was able to gain a 1-1 draw, a solid result to approach the second leg with. Both teams are the best in their respective countries at the moment.
The polish team was not very impressive so far in the qualifiers, barely knocking out Molde on away goals. They started the league in dominant fashion, now they are on third place after 5 rounds, but that is because they played with the reserves over the weekend and lost at home, in order to have the starters fresh for this reverse leg with Steaua. Overall, Legia is a decent team, in good form, and very, very strong at home. Home court advantage is huge for them, but they will have a problem today: the fans` stand will be closed via a UEFA decision, so there will be just over 3/4 of the stadium full. It`s a blow, but Legia will still get big support.
Steaua won the romanian league in convincing fashion last year, they also got some good results in the Europa League, reaching the last 16 after eliminating Ajax (at penalties), or beating Chelsea at home. The team plays a modern type of football, fast paced, good possession, mainly thanks to manager Reghecampf who took over last year and transformed Steaua into the best team in the country. So far in Champions league they knocked out Vardar Skopje (5-1 agg) and Dinamo Tbilisi (3-1 agg). The romanians are in good form and are currently undefeated this season, but they did draw with Dinamo Tbilisi, Legia and Gaz Metan Medias (last weekend, using mostly reserves). They are solid but, nevertheless, Steaua tends to be overrated, like they were in the first leg, with laughable odds of about 1.60. Steaua is a home team in European Cups, and playing away will not help them, especially against such a strong home team.
Team news
Legia has pretty much the whole squad available, except some 1-2 long term injuries. Steaua has bigger problems, with anchor-man Pintilii missing and best player Chiriches (defender, sold to Tottenham after this game) being doubtful. Also, back-up strikers Nikolic and Costea are out, so the romanians have only one valid striker, Piovaccari. This is a big issue for them. The best offensive midfielder Chipciu is also out, but it`s a long term injury.
Legia: Kuciak – Broz, Dossa Junior, Rzezniczak, Wawrzyniak – Vrdoljak, Furman – Kucharczyk, Radovici, Kosecki – Saganowski
Steaua: Tatarusanu – Georgievski, Szukala, Gardos, Latovlevici – Bourceanu, Filip – Ad. Popa, Stanciu, Tanase – Piovaccari
Overall, Steaua is the slightly better team here, and they have a big advantage regarding experience at european level, that will help a lot. On paper, they are a little bit stronger than their opponents, but Legia has the arguments to make this a tight encounter. The polish side has home court advantage and they seem to be a bad match-up for Steaua, with their tight defense and fast counters on the wings. Steaua`s squad problems will also count. Considering all these facts, we should see a very balanced match.
This is a huge game for both teams and nobody will take unnecessary risks. A rough encounter with many interruptions is expected under such pressure. With their problems in attack Steaua will have trouble scoring, much like in the first leg, while Legia will be satisfied to mostly defend. Expect a cautious approach from both sides, and even an early goal will not change this. More so, if at some point the score will be 1-1, everybody will be happy and a boring passing game would be on the cards until the end. Under 2,5 looks to be the best option here. I’m giving Steaua just a slight edge. My call would be 1-1 or 0-1.
Pick: under 2,5 goals
Odds: 1.76 @ Sbobet
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 6.84
Event date: 27 August
