After cruising to victory against Maltese side Hibernians in the last round, Salzburg are back in Champions League action on Wednesday evening as they welcome Croatian side Rijeka to the Red Bull Arena. The visitors also came through the last round with plenty in hand and so an interesting match lies in store here. As the hosts, and probably the better known side, at least to a wider audience, Salzburg come into this match as warm favourites. The Austrians were comfortable winners on their own patch last time out and have a strong home record to boot; however, their opponents,…
Another of this summer’s tournaments is just about ready to end; of the teams that started this competition, it is just USA and Jamaica left. As the host nation, the USA contingent were expected to lay down a big challenge, despite manager Bruce Arena not selecting the strongest possible squad. However, even though they’ve eventually made the final, performances have been questionable and it is only really because of the reinforcements called for after stumbling through the groups that they’ve made the last two. In contrast, Jamaica have exceeded expectations in reaching the final and, in knocking out the holders…
This Champions League qualifying match is an all-Eastern European affair as Qarabag of Azerbaijan take on Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova. Qarabag came through their previous qualifier against Samtredia of Georgia with ease as they ran out 6-0 aggregate winners. Last season they won the Azeri league at a canter, finishing top of the table with a ten-point gap over Gabala in second and, although it has not started yet, they are the favourites to win the title this time around as well. As mentioned in my winning tip for their last match against Samtredia, Gurban Gurbanov’s side have had little…
This Champions League match is the first European fixture of the season for both AEK Athens and CSKA Moscow. Not only is this AEK’s first European match of this season, but it is also their first competitive outing this campaign. Although they have done very well in their pre-season matches, with no defeats in their five friendlies, there is nothing like competitive football and so it will be interesting to see how AEK adjust. The Yellow-Blacks actually finished fourth in the regular Greek Superleague season last term but then blitzed the Greek UEFA playoffs to finish top of the group…
These two former Russian Premier League champions have been starved of success in the last couple of years, however, they have overhauled their squads this summer in a quest for glory. Zenit have spent €44m in this window as they look to claim their first Russian league title since 2015 as well as Champions League football; which they have now missed out on for the past two seasons. Roberto Mancini’s first match in charge of Zenit ended in a reasonably comfortable 2-0 win away at SKA Khabarovsk in the Far East. The Blue, White and Navys’ frontline looks sublime with…
This Russian Premier League match sees two of the more recently founded clubs in the country take each other on as Krasnodar, founded in 2008, host Tosno, established in 2013. Both of these teams have climbed up the ranks in unbelievably quick fashion since their creation. This is Krasnodar’s seventh consecutive season in the top flight and they are known as one of the more stable Russian clubs. As well as looking to finish well in the Russian Premier League, Krasnodar are looking to make a bigger impact in European football this time around. The Bulls got their domestic campaign…
This match is the second Moscow derby of the week after Dynamo and Spartak played out a 2-2 draw on Tuesday. Hopefully, Friday night’s fixture between CSKA and Lokomotiv is just as entertaining. Although CSKA are one of the more likely candidates for the title this season, most people still consider them outsiders behind the likes of Spartak Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg. Despite this, they got off to a good start in the opening round of Russian Premier League fixtures with a 3-1 win away at Anzhi Makhachkala. Usually we associate the Army Men with being strong at the back…
Having drawn 1-1 last week, this is another of the Europa League qualifying ties that is finely balanced. With an away-goal safely in the bag, Siroki will be feeling upbeat but all is certainly not lost for Aberdeen and, after a decent performance last week, they’ll also be quietly confident of getting the right result here. Considering that the first-leg was fairly even – Aberdeen fractionally dominated in terms of possession and shots on target but both teams created a reasonable amount while neither were really on top for a substantial part of the match – it’s somewhat surprising that…
Shkendija managed to secure a 3-1 victory against HJK Helsinki in their home leg last week which should be enough to see them through barring any mishaps on Thursday. Having said that, HJK have the away goal in the bank and a home tie to come which will give them some hope. HJK are Finland’s most successful club with 11 championships to their name and, after a relatively barren run which has seen them fail to win the league since 2014, they are currently top of the Finnish Veikkausliiga after 17 matches of the 2017 campaign. Having said that, they have…
Larnaca managed to scrape a valuable win in their first leg match against Cork City. However, given they are such strong favourites in this tie, they are still under a fair bit of pressure going into Thursday’s return fixture. The Cypriot side have been in good form in this second quarter of 2017 and are yet to lose a match in all competitions, including friendlies, since 12th April. Larnaca also have the advantage of playing a decent amount of European football over the years, although, it must also be pointed out that they have reached the group stage of a…
Despite being favourites last week, Galatasaray came unstuck against Swedish side Ostersunds and now find themselves without a precious away-goal and trailing by two. The Turkish club will of course fancy their chances of turning things around on home soil but they’ve certainly put themselves in a difficult position and it is the visitors who’re likely to come here with more confidence. Even though they failed to live up to expectations last week, Galatasaray are still heavily fancied by the bookies ahead of this one as they stand at a general price of 1/3 in the betting. However, there’s absolutely…
Having drawn 1-1 last week, this Europa League tie is finally balanced ahead of the second-leg in Belarus. Minsk will probably be happier with their first-leg effort as they secured an away-goal but, with the score-line at 1-1, anything is possible. The Macedonians, who equalised late in the day last week, are likely to be confident of getting on the score-sheet here and could very easily outperform their long odds. With their away goal, and the fact that they’re now on home soil, Dinamo Minsk are warm favourites ahead of this match and it’s fairly hard to argue with that.…
Having secured a 1-0 victory away from home in the first-leg, Lyngby, who finished third in last season’s Danish Superliga, are in a strong position ahead of this second-leg. Failing to score at home in a two-legged European tie is often the catalyst for elimination and now the onus is very much on the Slovakian visitors to force the issue in this second fixture. However, as they’re playing away from home, that could be easier said than done. Given the fact that they currently hold the lead thanks to an away-goal and the fact that they were capable of winning…
Having somewhat stumbled their way through the groups, USA manager Bruce Arena has called for reinforcements ahead of this quarter-final match as Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Darlington Nagbe, Tim Howard, Jozy Altidore and Jesse Gonzalez have all been added to the Gold Cup squad, although it has been the said that the last player on that list (Gonzalez) won’t feature on the pitch and is simply in the squad to get a taste of life with the national team after recently having his switch from Mexico approved. Such players definitely add experience and tournament nous but there’s no guarantees that…
With the group stages now done and dusted, this summers’ Gold Cup really begins to hot up. As one of the better known nations, at least in terms of footballing exploits, Costa Rica was expected to do well at this competition and, as they’ve made it to the quarter-finals undefeated, have lived up to their name. In Panama, they face one of the lesser sides and should feel reasonably confident about making the final four. Panama also came through the groups undefeated as they secured two wins and a draw against Martinique, Nicaragua and USA respectively; however, their wins were…
Despite the fact that APOEL hold a 1-0 lead going into this second leg, some bookmakers are not leaning very heavily towards the Cypriot side as they travel to Luxembourg. F91 Dudelange won the Luxembourg National Division title on goal difference for the second season running last term to ensure passage to the Champions League. Despite the fact they are clearly a European minnow, they have done remarkably well to keep themselves in this tie by losing by just the one goal margin to APOEL last week. Dino Toppmoller’s side were sublime in both attack and defence last season with…
With Celtic already holding a 2-0 lead going into the second leg of this tie, this qualifier is pretty much done and dusted with Celtic likely to now go through to the next stage. Value on the market is hard to find for this match but there are a couple of options if you look carefully. Although we are entering a new season, you cannot escape Celtic’s fantastic form last year which saw them win the Scottish title at a canter, breaking several records along the way. The challenge for The Hoops now is to make a bigger impact in…
This match is quite finely balanced with Astana currently holding a 1-0 advantage over Spartaks Jurmala. However, this will undoubtedly be a tough match for the Latvian side. Astana have been in fantastic form in this 2017 Kazakh season and they currently top the Kazakhstani Premier League, looking like they will win their fourth consecutive title. This is particularly evident given their recent run which has seen them win their last six matches on the bounce. Stanimir Stoilov’s side have been particularly good at the back in recent times with five clean sheets in their last six matches in all…