Bulgaria vs Montenegro prediction: EUROPE: Euro – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-03-23 17:00.
Bulgaria’s quest to qualify for their first European Championships since 2004 begins at home against Montenegro with both nations drawn together in a second successive qualifying campaign. The two sides filled the bottom two places of Group A in Euro 2020 qualifying, not helping one another’s causes by playing out two H2H stalemates along the way.
The home side maintained their place in UEFA Nations League C by finishing second in Group 4 before rounding out 2022 with a pair of friendly clean sheets (W1, D1) to secure a four-game unbeaten run (W3, D1) under new manager Mladen Krstajić. He’ll aim to continue lifting the country from the lows that preceded him, the most notable of which came in June 2022 when the senior and Under-21 teams both drew 1-1 with minnows Gibraltar in the same week.
For all that has changed in the world in the last four years, it’s quite remarkable that Montenegro began this qualifying tournament two places ahead of Bulgaria in the FIFA world rankings, just as they did prior to Euro 2020 qualifying! They have slipped 23 places down the table in four years along with their hosts, but managed to hold onto their place in UEFA Nations League B on head-to-head points against relegated Romania.
Montenegro boss Miodrag Radulović was backed to stay on as manager despite winning just one of his last seven games (D2, L4) in charge, the second time that has happened during his tenure. Speaking of the “importance” of the opening matches when naming his squad, Radulović has selected what he believes is the strongest possible side for this month’s fixtures against Bulgaria and Serbia, vowing to withhold experimentation until their qualification chances have been extinguished.
Players to watch: Forward Spas Delev, the most capped international player of Bulgaria’s squad for these two matches, sharpened up with a league double for Ludogorets at the weekend. Stefan Mugoša was Montenegro’s only player to score in two of their last eight games, including a hat-trick against Romania.
Hot streak: In each of Montenegro’s last eight away matches, only the winning team has scored on the day (W2, L6).