These two champions of their respective countries fought out an entertaining 2-2 in the first leg in Bulgaria. The two away goals of course puts Red Star in the driving seat and it will be interesting to see how they handle the pressure.
The atmosphere at Red Star’s Rajko Mitić Stadium can be intimidating for the opposition when full to its 55,000 capacity. Although this is hardly a match which will attract a large crowd, you can be sure that Ludogorets will receive a hostile reception in Serbia. Red Star have started reasonably well domestically and are currently second in the Serbian SuperLiga after one win and one draw as they look to retain their title. As previously mentioned, with their two away goals, Miodrag Božović’s side are in the stronger position and will feel they have the better squad to ensure qualification to the next round.
Most football fans will remember Bulgarian champions Ludogorets from being in the same group as Liverpool and Real Madrid in the 2014/15 Champions League campaign although unfortunately for them they failed to get beyond the second qualification round of Europe’s premier competition last year. The Bulgarian Prva Liga has not yet got underway so we can only judge Ludogoret’s on their European campaign.
Georgi Dermendzhiev’s probably need to keep a clean sheet and sneak a 1-0 win in order to have any chance of qualifying rather than take a risk in trying to outscore their Serbian opponents.
Red Star should win this as the favourites and luckily for punters there is good value in a victory for the Serbs at 16/11. I am not sure I would bet too much on anything else as we do not know how Ludogrets will approach this game given the difficult position they find themselves in.
See more Champions League tips here.