Following are the top 10 games you can place your bet on in the upcoming week with short previews and things that you need to take into consideration before you put your stakes.
Red Star Belgrade participated in two of the last three UEFA Champions League seasons, defeating Liverpool 2-0 in their winning campaign. Sherif escaped with a 1-1 draw in the first leg but Red Star is still the favorite to advance in the next round of the Champions League qualifiers. Gelor Kanga, one of the best Red Star players was sent off in the 58. minute of the first match and the Serbs didn’t manage to get the job done at their stadium. Dejan Stankovic’s squad is simply on another level comparing to the Moldavians and is expected to get the W.
With four Champions League victories already under their belts in the qualifiers, Ferencvaros prepares for a tough battle in Prague in hope that the 2-0 win in the first leg will be enough to advance. The Czech champion is not even thinking of giving up on their Champions League dream. Lukas Provod and David Hovorka remain unavailable for Slavia but they certainly have the power to win in the second leg. The only question is if they are able to win by two or more goals to advance.
The Ukrainian powerhouse has won the first match in Belgium by 2-1. Shakhtar is a consistent participant in the UEFA Champions League and anything but an easy victory in the rematch will be surprising. Despite their loss to Oleksandria in the last round of the Ukrainian league, Shakhtar is still in better shape than Genk who has lost 3 of their last 5 games.
The matchup that will be remembered by huge incidents between the fans on the street of Zagreb will be decided in Poland after the 1-1 draw in the first leg. The Croatian team was a favorite to advance but after they failed to win on ‘Maksimir’ things might have changed. Bruno Petković who scored for Dinamo is questionable for the rematch which is a huge issue for coach Damir Krznar knowing that Macedonian midfielder Arijan Ademi is already sidelined.
The Swedish surprisingly won the first leg by 2-1 mainly because of the suspension of Rangers’ Leon Balogun, Glen Kamara and Kemar Roofe. The good thing for the Scottish champion is that they managed to score in the stoppage time and now even a 1-0 victory will send them to the next round. Despite the 1-0 loss to Dundee United in the Scottish Premier League, Steven Gerard’s team is absolute favorite in the rematch against Malmo.
The Scottish team surprisingly left Istanbul undefeated in the first leg of the Europa League qualifier against Galatasaray. The Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was sent off in the 55th minute and Galatasaray couldn’t recover from the shock. Still, they are a huge favorite to win in Scotland and easily advance to the next round.
One of the biggest upsets in the first leg of the Europa Conference League qualifiers was Bohemians’ win over PAOK. Unfortunately for the Irish team, PAOK has one of the toughest home courts in Europe and they will be experiencing a real football hell in the rematch in Thessaloniki. PAOK barely losses at their stadium and an easy victory can be highly expected.
Even though the Bulgarian team pulled of a 1-1 draw in the first leg, FC Copenhagen is simply too big of a club for the Europa Conference League and anything but their advancement will be a huge upset. Plovdiv is a defensive oriented team which was clearly visible in the first leg, but nothing will stop the Danish champion from high scoring performance in their stadium. To make the things worse for Plovdiv, four players of their starting lineup are questionable for the rematch.
Rijeka entered this matchup as a clear favorite but after what we saw in the first leg, Hibernian certainly has a chance to advance. The Croatian team has made a huge improvement in the past few seasons becoming a huge threat to Dinamo in the Croatian league. The impression is that they luckily escaped Easter Road undefeated in the first leg and they will have to play their best football at home in order to advance. The international experience is definitely on Rijeka’s side and that might be crucial in the rematch.
The Serbian squad showed great performance in the first leg and anything other than a routine victory in Belgrade will be a surprise. The young Serbian squad plays modern football with a lot of running and creating many scoring opportunities. The fans always play a huge role when it comes to Serbian teams and Sochi will definitely have a tough time in the Serbian capital. Partizan has won 8 out of their last 10 games, without any loss, while the Russians have lost 5 times in their last 10 games which clearly describe their current shape.
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