Royale Union SG (Bel) vs Slavia Prague (Cze) prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Qualification betting tips on match 2024-08-12 18:30.
[p]Having never before featured in the group/league stage of the UEFA Champions League (UCL), Union Saint-Gilloise have a mountain to climb if they’re to maintain their hopes of qualifying for the inaugural league phase of Europe’s premier club competition after they suffered a 3-1 defeat to third qualifying round opponents Slavia Prague in the first leg. Failing to overturn the deficit fortunately wouldn’t mean an end to the Unionists’ European campaign this season, as they would find themselves transferred to the league phase of the UEFA Europa League (UEL) as a consolation. [/p]
[p]Union have become accustomed to the UEL having participated in the group stages of the last two editions, with those being their only appearances in European competitions this century. But manager Sébastien Pocognoli will be looking to mastermind a fairytale comeback in the hopes of going one better by leveraging Union’s record of losing just three of their last 12 home continental matches (W6, D3), including three wins by an all-important 2+ goal margin.[/p]
[p]Staving off this red hot Slavia outfit would be an accomplishment of its own, as Jindřich Trpišovský’s troops are currently riding a 12-game undefeated streak (W9, D3). In that time, they’ve mustered a mammoth 28 goals while conceding only five themselves, showing the men from Prague are firing on all cylinders. [/p]
[p]The Red and Whites will be looking to see this tie out and make their way into the UCL play-off round, where they’ll be greeted by either Lille of France or Turkey’s Fenerbahçe. It then becomes a two-legged matchup for a spot in the UCL league phase, which would be Slavia’s first appearance in the UCL proper since the 2019/20 season. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Despite losing 4-3 against Westerlo on Saturday, Union will hope Kevin RodrĂguez can emulate his performance in which he scored a brace, especially as that was the first loss of his senior club career when he found the net (W10). Slavia will be looking to their own scorer of a brace from the first leg in Tomáš ChorĂ˝ to help close out the tie, since he’s scored the match opener in 11 of his last 16 goalscoring outings. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: The half-time result was repeated at full-time in all but one of Slavia Prague’s current 12 competitive games without defeat.[/p]
[p][i]Written by: Peter Stavrinou[/i][/p]
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