Omonia vs Sheriff Tiraspol prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2022-09-07 19:00.
Omonia Nicosia manager Neil Lennon may have passed his wishes to former club Celtic on their UEFA Champions League (UCL) return, but his sole focus is now on navigating Omonia out of the UEFA Europa League (UEL) group stages. Lennon knows an "awesome" clash against Manchester United is yet to come, but having finished bottom of the group in their only previous UEL appearance, he can ill afford to look too far ahead.
Even a third-place finish this time to get a ticket into the UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) may be termed a success for Omonia who have started their domestic league campaign in mixed form (W1, L1), but to even achieve that, they would need to dramatically improve upon their one win across their last 12 European group matches (W1, D5, L6). With that lone win coming at this venue and in this competition, Lennon may have to fall back on those memories to push his doctrine of optimism.
Sheriff Tiraspol, who needed penalties to reach this stage via the playoffs, are the only Moldovan side to ever participate in this competition. In this, their fifth UEL sojourn, Sheriff have a duty to uphold, as Moldovan sides have lost all of their previous eight European games against Cypriot sides, but having heroically felled the mighty Real Madrid in the UCL last season, Sheriff have an eye for an upset and travel to Cyprus in good form after an unbeaten start to their title defence back home (W4, D2).
That momentous win at the Bernabéu (2-1) didn't inspire a strong away run though, with Sheriff yet to win away from home in Europe since then (D4, L3). It gets even trickier for Sheriff considering their UEL group stage away record is equally uninspiring (W1, D5, L6) as they chase a UEL group top-two finish for the first time ever.
Players to watch: Charalampos Charalampous has been all-action in UEL for Omonia this season, scoring twice and picking up a yellow card in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Rasheed Akanbi scored Sheriff's first in their last match and has two goals in Europe this campaign, all of which came from the penalty spot.
Hot streak: Sheriff's last eight away UEL group stage matches have remained level at half-time, with six of those standing goalless.