Montenegro vs Serbia prediction: EUROPE: Euro – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-03-26 18:45.
Montenegro’s bid to qualify for Euro 2024 couldn’t have got off to a much better start as they picked up a narrow 1-0 win away to Bulgaria. Boss Miodrag Radulović highlighted his side’s desire as the reason for victory, stating “when you fight like this, then football will reward you” and his team will likely have to fight tooth-and-nail against Serbia, a side who did the UEFA Nations League double over them in 2018, and who they shared a nation with as recently as 2006.
You’d expect a swift return to the more familiar surroundings of the Podgorica City Stadium would boost Montenegro’s hopes of securing back-to-back Euro qualification victories for the first time since September 2015, but a five-match winless home run (D2, L3) in such games may dampen that optimism.
Serbia’s bid to qualify for a Euro finals as an independent nation for the first time ever got off to a flier, as they routinely breezed past Lithuania 2-0. Victory marked the perfect return to competitive action after their World Cup group stage exit and boss Dragan Stojković insists his side will be “ready” for this clash after making a wealth of changes in that Lithuania game with this trip in mind.
Perhaps Stojković had good reason to do so too, as his side are now on the verge of becoming the first ever Serbia team to win back-to-back games to open a Euro qualification campaign as an independent nation. Three successive away wins in Euro qualifiers (inc play-offs) would hint at this side becoming history makers, but considering they conceded exactly once in all three of those games, Serbia’s attack will likely have to be firing.
Players to watch: Montenegro’s all-time record scorer Stevan Jovetić has scored the game opener in three of his last four goalscoring outings for the national team at the Podgorica City Stadium. With a similar eye for opening the scoring, Serbia’s Dušan Tadić has struck first in five of his last seven international scoring outings.
Hot stat: Serbia have kept just one clean sheet in their last ten away Euro qualifiers.