Steaua was badly beaten in the last game of the group, a 1-3 defeat to Dynamo Kiev in a match Steaua could have lost even heavier, but on the bright side the Romanian side is first in the league and has won the last two games with a 7-1 goal difference after encountering a poor run of results earlier. In the first game in Europa League Steaua defeated Aalborg 6-0, surely a misleading result in a game Steaua did not even deserve to win (yes, you read it right)! The hosts do not have any special weapons but they are looking like a solid side right now, they are dominating the Romanian League and can get good results against weaker european sides.
Rio Ave got to the Europa League thanks to some performances in the Portugese Cups. They finished on the 11th place last year and are currently 6th this year, but they are a 4 match winless run in the Portugese League. Rio Ave is well known for its defensive style, they like to play an organized game at the back and have few offensive weapons, they are also an excellent away side. The visitors found themselves overwhelmed by the level in European competitions this year and lost 0-3 at home to Dynamo Kiev before being defeated 0-1 by Aalborg.
.
Team news & lineups
Steaua will be happy to have all its important players healthy and ready to go ahead of this clash (aside from key CB Varela), while Rio Ave is set to field a similar lineup to the one that was defeated 0-1 at Aalborg in the last Europa League game.
Steaua: Arlauskis – Rapa, Papp, Szukala, Latovlevici – Prepelita, Breeveld, Sanmartean, Rusescu, Tanase – Keseru
Rio Ave: Cassio – Nuno Lopes, Marcelo, Gouoano, T.Pinto – Tarantini, Wakaso, Moreira – Ukra, E.Boateng, Diego Lopes.
Listen, Steaua is not a great team this year but they are decent, they have European experience and they are a very good team at home, almost always completing the job and warranting a bet against lesser opposition. Rio Ave doesn`t really seem to belong in this competition, they are in horrible form and it would be a huge surprise for me if they could produce a challenging performance today. Steaua is known to be able to cover big handicaps when they have control of the came and they will surely be the aggressor today, so my tip here is Steaua to win with a 1 goal asian handicap and put a dominant foot in the qualification race. The odds really don`t to Steaua justice, thus determining 10 units for me here, I feel the risk to lose is rather slim. Prediction: Steaua Bucharest – Rio Ave 3-0.
Pick: Steaua (-1 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 2.12
0 коментара:
Постави коментар