Montenegro vs Bulgaria prediction: EUROPE: Euro – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-09-09 16:00.
Despite indifferent starts in Group G, reaching next year’s UEFA Euro 2024 tournament remains achievable for Montenegro and Bulgaria, who will both want to push on in their qualifying campaigns with wins here. Montenegro achieved their sole victory in the opening game of this qualifying cycle away to their opponents here, but no win since then (D2, L1) leaves Miodrag Radulović’s side in third and two points off the crucial top two.
The home side played out a frantic finish in their most recent fixture on Thursday night in Lithuania, conceding the opening goal in the 71st minute before scoring two goals within 11 minutes to go ahead. However, they let in an equaliser deep into stoppage time, meaning the Brave Falcons have won just twice in their last 12 internationals (D4, L6). While it was a tough result to swallow, Radulović might take comfort from the fact that his men looked more efficient in front of goal, having previously failed to score in five of their last eight fixtures.
Bulgaria head into Sunday’s game bottom of the group and winless in six matches (D3, L3), despite four of those fixtures peculiarly seeing them concede exactly one match goal. This run includes a 1-0 friendly defeat to Iran on Thursday night, which was alarmingly the third game in their last four in which they trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes.
While prospects look bleak for the visitors, they might take comfort from the fact that each of their last two victories have come on the road – both last year against Cyprus and North Macedonia. Fixtures against Montenegro are usually tight too, with only one of the last seven being settled by more than a single-goal margin (W1, D4, L2), so they’ll hope one big push here could help move the needle towards a much-needed victory.
Players to watch: Nikola Krstović settled proceedings when these sides met in March and opened the scoring for Montenegro on Thursday night. Meanwhile, Bulgaria attacker Georgi Rusev will also hope to get on the scoresheet, but his last three international appearances have delivered more yellow cards (two) than goals (zero).
Hot streak: Each of the last five H2Hs have failed to produce more than two match goals.