Petrocub vs Paphos prediction: EUROPE: Conference League – League phase betting tips on match 2024-10-02 19:00.
[p]Owing to their inaugural league title in 2023/24, Moldovan champions Petrocub Hîncești began their latest continental journey in the preliminary rounds of the UEFA Champions League. As largely anticipated, they tumbled down through the qualifiers and, following a 6-1 aggregate loss to Ludogorets, dropped into the third-tier UEFA Conference League for what will be their inaugural group/league stage appearance in any of the three tournaments.[/p]
[p]It will nonetheless be a proud moment for what will be just the second Moldovan club to play at this stage of a UEFA tournament, following the more familiar Sheriff Tiraspol, but they’re hardly in any shape for the occasion. That’s due to the fact that their Super Liga title defence lies in tatters even following a victory at the weekend (W3, D2, L2), whilst they’re unlikely to present an ominous attacking threat having scored 2+ goals in only one of their 25 UEFA games across their entire history![/p]
[p]Cypriot Cup champions Pafos are not only new to the Conference League but to continental football in general, and they had to get this far the tough way by successfully negotiating three separate preliminary playoff ties – two of which were forced to extra time. Perhaps owing to their superior domestic form which saw them top the league standings at the end of the weekend, they will now head into this game as favourites. [/p]
[p]With a trip to two-time Conference League runners-up Fiorentina still to come, it’s crucial that they get as many points on the board as they can from their other two away fixtures if they are to progress to the knockout stages. Having lost all four of their continental away games this season by an aggregate score of 2-8 though, there’s still a lot of work to be done to improve their results outside of Cyprus.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: At the weekend, Marin Căruntu joined a small handful of Petrocub players to have scored multiple goals across all competitions this season. Pafos forward Jairo was the joint or outright top scorer of the two previous Cypriot leagues and began this latest league campaign with three straight goal scoring appearances.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Six of Petrocub’s eight UEFA games this season have produced under 2.5 total goals.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Aaron Murphy[/i][/p]