Dinamo Bucuresti v Hajduk Split
Football: Uefa Europa League: Third qualifying round, 1st leg
Venue: Stadion Stefan cel Mare, Bucuresti, Romania
Thursday 29th July – Kickoff time: 21:00 GMT+2

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Dinamo Bucuresti

After easily getting trough the second qualifying round, eliminating Olimpia Balti (7-1 agg.), Dinamo is preparing for a more demanding match against Croatian runner-up last season, Hajduk Split.

Dinamo started the championship with a positive result, 2-1 on the away game against Astra Ploiesti. However, there are still a lot of things coach Ioan Andone should improve, there were many mistakes in the central-defenders area which allowed their opponents to create a lot of chances to score. The 3 points came after a 93rd minute goal, after a well-worked counter-attack.

Andone will have to make some changes in the first 11, striker Marius Niculae and central-defender Moti are both suspended so we should see Pablo Garat in the back, and Andrei Cristea moved to Niculae’s position up front. In these conditions, Dinamo will play in a 4-2-3-1 system which should allow them to win the possession in the middle of the pitch.

After finishing his contract with Hercules Alicante, 33 year old striker, Ionel Danciulescu, re-joined the team a few days ago. Dinamo also transferred left-back Elias Bazzi from FC Arges.

Hajduk Split

Over the last few seasons, Hajduk was the only serious rival of Dinamo Zagreb in the Croatian league. Despite losing the championship, Hajduk managed to win a trophy last season, the Croatian Cup.

Their first official game this season was the Supercup played against Dinamo Zagrab, which they lost with the score of 1-0. The only goal was scored in the 78th minute by Igor Biscan.

In their recent history, Hajduk registered some disappointing results in European competitions, being eliminated in qualifiers. The last time they’ve reached a group stage of a European competition was in 1994 when they qualified to the UCL quarter-finals.

Their current squad is quite inexperienced, with many young players, mostly Croatians. In fact they only have one player that is not Croatian, midfielder Senijad Ibricic who is from Bosnia.

The Betting Verdict :

Hajduk Split has a name that inspires respect in central and eastern Europe, they have a great tradition in Croatia and their supporters are well-known all around Europe for their passion.

However I am skeptical about how well can they perform at this moment, there were no spectacular changes over the last few seasons that would suggest that their disappointing European performances could come to an end.

Dinamo on the other hand has a decent squad, but they are well known for their shocking defeats against relatively unknown teams. Last season in Europa League, they inexplicably lost in the first round at home 0-3 against Slovan Liberec, but then qualified on penalties to the group stages.

Under normal circumstances, Dinamo should win this and also qualify for the next round because they are obviously the better team, but in the first leg I expect both teams to be cautious. Hajduk will probably let Dinamo dominate, then try to strike on counter-attacks. In this case, Dinamo could be caught off-guard.

The Pick :

Dinamo Bucuresti 1-0 (or 1-1) Hajduk Split

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Under 2.5 goals at 1.8 at Bet365