This week sees the second leg in the Champions League third qualifying round. Sides are getting incredibly close to the group stages now, but they still have a little more work to do. While domestic action is not yet back, we at least have a few European clashes to look forward to. Hopefully we’ll get quite a few goals across the qualifiers too to land our BTTS bets.
Ahead of the midweek action, we’ve picked out our both teams to score tips. We’ve gone through the Champions League games and picked out the matches which we’re expecting goals from. We should be getting more than a few dramatic away goals, with these ties tightly poised after last week’s action and everything to play for.
Tuesday 2nd August 2016
- APOEL v Rosenborg (13/17 with Coral) – Rosenborg went 2-0 up at home, but they gave APOEL an away goal and a way back into this tie. The Cypriots know that Rosenborg aren’t great defensively away from home, but the Norwegian side are strong going forward. We can’t help but see goals here.
- Crvena Zvezda v Ludogorets (4/5 with Betfair) – These two drew 2-2 in their opening game, and we’re expecting the goals to keep coming. They may not be two massive European sides, but after an open game they’re close to the play-off round, and both sides should push hard to get through to the next phase.
- Dundalk v BATE (10/11 with Betfred) – Dundalk need to attack to overturn a 1-0 first leg defeat. However, they’re playing this game in Dublin, so they’re lacking home support. We think that will make this a much more open tie, so we’re backing BTTS.
Wednesday 3rd August 2016
- PAOK v Ajax (8/11 with Bet365) – Ajax drew 1-1 at home to PAOK in the first leg, and the Greek side should cause them even more problems in the second meeting. With Ajax on the verge of an exit, they’ll be desperate to get forward and score an away goal.
- Steaua Bucharest v Sparta Prague (20/21 with Coral) – Steaua’s recent defensive record has been pretty poor, including a 1-1 draw in the first leg of this tie. Sparta should be able to take advantage of that, but they’ll struggle to keep out a side who are strong going forward.
- Celtic v Astana (6/5 with Betfred) – Celtic took a huge away goal back from Kazakhstan, but they need to finish the job. Their record in qualifying for this competition has been poor for a few years now, and we can’t see them keeping a clean sheet here. Astana are a good side, so expect them to cause problems for Brendan Rodgers and his troops.
- Monaco v Fenerbahce (10/11 with Betfair) – Monaco lost 2-1 in Turkey last week, which raised serious questions about their defence. With a defeat to overturn, expect Monaco’s defence to be even less protected here, which is good news for Fenerbahce. We can see goals here, which probably isn’t good news for the Ligue 1 side.