Hajduk Split v Unirea Urziceni
Football: Uefa Europa League: Play-offs
Venue: Poljud Stadion, Split, Croatia
Thursday 19th August – Kickoff time: 20:30 GMT+1

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Hajduk Split

Hajduk played against Dinamo in the previou round so it’s easier to determine their level at this moment. The tie was rather strange, the Croatians were outplayed in Bucharest and were lucky to only concede 3 goals but they did scored what proved to be a decisive goal after a mistake by Dinamo’s left back, Pulhac.

The game finished 3-1 and Dinamo were quite sure nothing could happen in the second leg but Hajduk proved them wrong. Dinamo must have been intimidated by the 30000 croatian fans because they concede 3 goals in the first half which was enough for Hajduk to go through.

Unirea will be their 4th Romanian opponent, beside Dinamo, Hajduk met in the past Steaua Bucuresti and Universitatea Craiova.

Hajduk trashed Inter Zapresici in their last game before this tie, with an impressive 5-0. They got a lot of confidence at the moment and are hoping to put a decisive distance between them and Unirea after this game.

Unirea Urziceni

After president Mihai Stoica resigned last week, Israeli coach Ronny Levi announced that he will leave the team after this tie. The decision is not surprising at all, Unirea’s owner is no longer motivated to invest in the club so this club could even disappear at the end of this season.

There is a total chaos among the players, they did not received their salaries for several months and are now searching for better contracts. Striker Bilasco is close to a move to CFR Cluj, while Galamaz and Marinescu could sing with Astra Ploiesti. Left-back Brandan will also leave the team before the end of the month.

This situation is reflected in their current results, only 2 points from 4 games in the championship without scoring a goal. So that is a total of 6 games (including the UCL qualifiers against Zenit) with Unirea not scoring.

Unirea only started two European campaign in their history, they were eliminated two years ago by Hamburg in Europa League (0-0 in Hamburg, 0-2 at home) then they finished 3rd in the UCL group stage and were eliminated in the Europa League round of 32 by Liverpool.

The Betting Verdict :

There are two decisive factors for this match to consider. First is Unirea’s situation of uncertainty, the players cannot focus in these circumstances, neither the coach who knows that he will leave the club after this tie whatever the result would be.

Second would be Hajduk’s strength when playing at home. That is a major advantage for them despite being a limited team, with inexperienced players but who work a lot on the pitch and have a great desire to achieve important performances.

The two teams have quite similar styles but Hajduk is the favorite for going trough mostly because Unirea is not the team they were last season so I favor the Croatians for a home win.

The Pick :

Hajduk Split 1-0 Unirea Urziceni

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Hajduk Split to win at 1.8 Interwetten