Steaua – Dortmund

Steaua Bucharest and Borussia Dortmund will square off this Saturday in a friendly to be played in Alicante, Spain. There`s some great value in the odds here as far as I`m concerned.

Steaua recently arrived in Spain and will play their first friendly after the winter break. The Romanians played their last official match more than one month ago, so it is expected they will be a little rusty. Steaua is hands down the best team in Romania, they dominated the league so far this season and will probably win their 3rd successive title – however, the team lost strength compared to the last two seasons, they lost a lot of players and this could be seen in their European performances – knocked out by Ludogorets in UCL and by Aalborg in Europa League. The Romanians have seen some turbulent times this winter, with some players departing and losing the “Steaua brand” to the old owner.

So far this winter Steaua lost key players Szukala and Sanmartean, but brought in Romanian international Tamas from Watford. An interesting fact about Steaua is that they have been absolutely horrific in friendlies over the past 2 years: just 3 wins in 18 matches (one against an amateur team from Romania) and a lot of blowout losses as well against dubious opponents.

Dortmund will play their second match in Spain after they defeated Sion 1-0 a few days ago. It has been a horrible season for Borussia so far, at least in the Bundesliga, where they are second to last. Jurgen Klopp called this winter break crucial if they are to have a better 2015 and with just 2 weeks to go until the match against Leverkusen, there`s no room for relaxation for Borussia. Klopp fielded a solid lineup against Sion and he should field an ever stronger one today.

Bet on Steaua Bucharest vs. Borussia Dortmund with the best odds at Bwin.com.

Team news & lineups:

Surely there will be a couple of tweaks here and there, after all it`s just a friendly, but the lineups should look like below. Note that I`m posting the lineup with which Dortmund started against Sion, though I expect them to play more of their stars in this second friendly.

Steaua: – Arlauskis – Rapa, Luchin, Tosca, Latovlevic – Breeveld, Prepelita – Popa, Chipciu, Tanase – Keseru

Dortmund: Weidenfeller – Durm, Ginter, Hummels, Passlack – Grosskreutz, Dudziak – Gundogan, Sahin, Kampfl – Immobile

I really like Dortmund to win here and there are a couple of solid arguments for my choice. There`s the quality difference of course, but there`s also the fact that Dortmund is fitter – they already played one friendly and they are ahead of Steaua in terms of preparation, which is always a huge aspect in these type of matches. The Romanians are well known of under performing in friendlies, so that should count too. The Romanians will probably more focused than usual playing against a famous opponent, but they simply have too much going against them. Look for Dortmund to field a good lineup and play a solid match, they really need to get going as Bundesliga is just around the corner.

My tip is Borussia Dortmund to win this clash, I`m choosing more safety over a potential handicap and I`m betting high stakes despite this being just a club friendly. Prediction: Steaua Bucharest – Borussia Dortmund 0-2.

Pick: Dortmund
Odds: 1.60 @ Bwin
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 5.40
Event date: 17 January