CHAMPIONS LEAGUE BETTING PICK - CFR CLUJ V FC BASEL

Champions League

2010-09-15 - CFR Cluj vs FC Basel

A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt

CFR Cluj v FC Basel
Football: Uefa Champions League group stage
Venue: Dr. Constantin Radulescu stadium, Cluj
Wednesday 15th September – Kickoff time: 21:45 GMT+2

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CFR Cluj

CFR will play in the Uefa Champions League group stage for the second time in their history, after their first appearance in 2008. They had a decent run at their first presence, with a memorable victory in Rome and a home draw against Chelsea. CFR will try to make more than 4 points this time, but it will be difficult to beat Unirea Urziceni’s performance from previous season when they accumulated 8 points.

CFR are having the worst season since they promoted in 2004, with only two victories in 7 games and an disastrous 11th place on the table for the current champions. These results led to the decision of sacking Italian coach Andrea Mandorlini just before this match. Sorin Cartu, an experimented Romanian coach will try to put them back on track, but he can't do magic in just two days. He will however change the system from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2.

The Romanian champions played two times in the group stages of a European competition, UCL in 2008 and Europa League a year later. Their home record is extremely poor, only one victory against FC Copenhagen in EL, one draw against Chelsea and four defeats against AS Roma, Bordeaux, Sparta Prague and PSV Eindhoven.

FC Basel

Basel is one of the most important clubs from Switzerland, having won the championship for 13 times. In 1980 Basel relegated, than only started to have impressive results after Gigi Oeri took over the club in 2000 and only two years later they won the championship after a 22 year break.

Unlike CFR Cluj, the Swiss champions had to play qualifying rounds in order to reach the Uefa Champions League group stage. They were convincing in both third qualifying round and playoffs, winning all games against Debrecen (5-1 agg.) and Sheriff Tiraspol (4-0 agg.).

In a group with Bayern Munich, AS Roma and of course, CFR Cluj, Basel's players sounds very optimistic saying that they are favorites to qualify alongside Bayern. "CFR is a team to beat" says striker Alexander Frei.

Last time Basel played in CL was in the same year when CFR made its debut in the competition, in 2008 when they were humiliated in the group stage, finishing in the bottom in a group with Barcelona, Sporting and Shakhtar. They only won 1 point and had a negative goal difference of 14 with just 2 goals scored and 16 conceded.
Basel's best recent European performance was made in the 2005-2006 season when they reached the quarter finals of the Uefa Cup, being eliminated by Middlesbrough.

Alexander Frei is the main danger for CFR Cluj, he returned to Switzerland in 2009 after playing in France and Germany and had an impressive year, scoring 18 goals in 21 games in the previous season.

The Betting Verdict :

Playing the way they did so far in the league, CFR should have no chance against any team present in this year’s CL group stage. Sacking their coach just days before this game could be considered a sign of weakness but it may also produce a shock, which would be in their favor.

Despite playing so poor, CFR have not lost a game in the first league since April 2008, but lost 4 out of 6 in European competitions.

On the other hand, in the exact same period and same competitions, Basel’s away record is as poor as CFR's home record, with 4 defeats, one draw and a victory against CSKA Sofia.

Bookies rate CFR better but I don't consider them favorites despite playing at home, but in the same time Basel is not an extremely powerful side when playing on the road. Alexander Frei to score would be a wise choice for this game, because CFR's defense looked awful recently.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

BEST BETTING TIP :

Draw match at 3.33 Pinnacle
Confidence 5/10

FC Basel to score at 1.44 Bet365
Confidence 8/10

Alexander Frei anytime scorer at 3.5 Unibet
Confidence 3/10