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APOEL vs Qarabag Prediction & Betting tips
In the third qualifying round of the Champions League, the Cypriot APOEL and the Azerbaijani Qarabag meet each other in the Neo GSP on Tuesday evening. The stakes are high, because the winner of this diptych qualifies for the play-offs of the European champion ball.
APOEL:
With 28 national titles and 21 national cups, APOEL is by far the most successful club in Cyprus, and is also regularly in Europe. APOEL’s biggest European success came in the 2011-2012 season, when it actually managed to advance to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Last season, however, the Cypriots had to cope without European football, after being surprised by the Kazakhstan Astana in the preliminary rounds of the Europa League.
Cypriot football is not particularly highly regarded, but partly because of its reputation as a tax haven, many foreigners are nevertheless seduced into an adventure on the island in the Mediterranean. Defender Nicolas Ioannou was the only Cypriot in the starting eleven of Italian coach Paolo Tramezzani in the previous preliminary round against Montenegrin Sutjeska (4-0 win over two games). Of this foreign legion, attacker Andrija Pavlovic is the big star, because the Serbian signed for a hat trick in the home match against Sutjeska. Other well-known names are Dutch goalkeeper Boy Waterman and former Fortuna Sittard-striker Andre Vidigal, but they didn’t play in the diptych against Sutjeska. The chance that they will kick off on Tuesday evening is therefore small.
Qarabag:
Qarabag is also no stranger now, since since 2014 the reigning champion has qualified every season for the main tournament of the Europa League or the Champions League. The provisional European highlight of The Horsemen came when two years ago, in the group stage of the Champions League, it managed to keep the big Atletico Madrid out at home and at a draw. The Azerbaijani never managed to hibernate in the European champions’ ball.
Just like APOEL, Qarabag had few problems in the previous heat. While visiting Dundalk in Ireland, coach Gurban Gurbanov’s team had to settle for a 1-1 draw, but in the return for their own audience, their opponent did not lose a lot of weight with a resounding 3-0 victory. In particular, the Spanish attacker Jaime Romero, who came over from the Spanish second-division team Cordoba this summer, had two goals on his hips. He is also the man to keep an eye on in the diptych against APOEL, although Qarabag has, among others, the Brazilian Ailton (former VfB Stuttgart) and the Belgian Moroccan Faycal Rherras (former KV Mechelen and Sint-Truiden) in the fire.