Unirea Urziceni v Zenit St. Petersburg
Football: Uefa Champions League: Third qualifying round
Venue: Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania
Tuesday 27th July – Kickoff time: 20:30 GMT+2

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Unirea Urziceni

This is only the 3rd time when they are playing in a European competition. They were eliminated by Hamburg in 2007 in the first round, a year later they played in the most important European competition, UCL, after winning their first title in Romania. Unirea had a decent run, collecting 8 points in a group with Seville, Stuttgart and Glasgow.

Urziceni were runner-up in the previous season of Romanian Liga 1, which gave them the chance to play in UCL again, but this time they’ll need to play qualifiers. Having a low rating, they were grouped among the non-favorites in the draws so they were faced against a powerful side, Zenit.

I think Unirea reached their maximum potential in the 2009-2010 season, Dan Petrescu created then a solid team, that was capable of making great results. However, this season they are looking a bit out of shape, maybe because they made no refreshments to their squad, most of the players had hopes of transferring to a better championship and also getting a better contract and that may affect their performances.

The only players that signed with them this summer, are 31-year old Adrian Neaga and 36-year old Petre Marin. I believe that they cannot add value to the squad, both are near to the end of their careers and may not be able to perform at a high level anymore.

They started the season playing the Romanian Supercup against CFR Cluj, which they lost on penalties, and also failed to win against Pandurii Tg-Jiu in the first stage of the championship after a disappointing game.

Zenit St. Petersburg

Zenit were third last season in Russia, behind champions Rubin Kazan and just 1 point behind Spartak Moscow. They are doing much better this season, after 14 stages they are leading the league with an impressive record of 10 wins and 3 draws from 13 games. They have 6 points in front of CSKA who are 2nd and they have a record of 21 games without a loss.

Since the arrival of Luciano Spalletti, Zenit’s defense has improved a lot in the previous season. Playing in a 4-2-3-1 system, the 4 defenders including Anyukov (team captain), Fernando Meira, Lombaerts and Hubocan will be hard to get past by Unirea Urziceni who plays with only one forward. There are two defensive midfielders in front of them, Sirkov and Denisov.

Despite having a solid defense, the compartment that excels the most is in front. In the last match against FC Rostov, Spalletti used Faizulin, Danny and Rosina with Kerzhakov in front of them. They recently transferred Buharov from Rubin Kazan for an astonishing 15 million euro fee.

A bad news for them could be the absence of goalkeeper Malafeev, who suffered an injury and has been replaced with Jevnov.

The Betting Verdict :

Zenit are traveling to Bucharest with full confidence, declaring that they want to solve the qualification problem from the first leg.

There is an obvious difference in quality and class between the two squads, Zenit had the financial power to invest high amounts in players like Danny (30 million), Kerzhakov or Bulharov. If the budget would be the only criteria to differentiate the two teams than Zenit would win 10-0. However, I’m sure Glasgow Rangers budget was way superior to Unirea’s but they still got defeated, at home and with 4-1!

Unirea always try to compensate the difference in value by working a lot and playing very organized, but this time I don’t think they will be able to held Zenit who has great attacking players, and with their difficulties in scoring, Urziceni are sure victims in my opinion.

The Pick :

Unirea Urziceni 0-1 Zenit St. Petersburg

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Main bet : Take Zenit St. Petersburg to win at 1.91 Ladbrokes
Side bet: Take Under 2.5 goals at 1.67 Betsson