EUROPA LEAGUE BETTING PICK - SPORTING V VASLUI

Europa League

2011-10-20 - Sporting vs Vaslui

A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt

Sporting club de Portugal v Vaslui
Football: Europa League Group D
Venue: "Jose Alvalade", Lisbon
Thursday 20th October – Kickoff time: 22:05 GMT+2

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Sporting

While Porto and Benfica are having a good run in the most important European club competition, Sporting is also doing a fine job representing their country in the Europa League, winning both games played so far against Zurich and Lazio and comfortably leading group D.

Sporting are unbeaten in six European games and they have also not lost in their last six home games, having registered five wins and a draw. Sporting also hold a positive record against Romanian opposition when playing at home, winning both games in which they’ve hosted them.

Coach Domingos Paciencia has some issues in his defense, Daniel Carriço, Oguchi Onyewu, and Ânderson Polga are all doubts, so we could see youngster Tiago Ilori feature as centre-back. Another absence will be Insua who is suspended.

Ricky van Wolfswinkel is the man to watch, the 22 year old, Sporting’s second biggest signing of last summer in a 5.4 million euro deal, has eight goals from his last seven games.

Probable Sporting line-up :

Rui Patricio
Joao Perreira, Tiago Ilori, Onyewu, Carrico
M. Fernandes, Rinaudo, Schaars
Carillo, Van Wolfswinkel, Capel

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Vaslui

Vaslui ended their poor record on their European travels with an excellent performance against Lazio, in Rome, a match they could have won. Vaslui were 2-1 up and the Italians played in 10 men, but they were able to find a late equalizer that denied the Romanians their first away victory in Europe.

Vaslui received the visit of Zurich on the matchday two and once again the game had a similar ending, with the Romanians being equalized after they’ve been up 2-1. So that’s two points that places them second in the group at the moment.

Ex-Pacos Ferreira player, Brazilian Wesley Lopez has already scored three goals in the competition, two on their first travel to Rome and he is expected to continue his superb form, so Sporting’s defense will need to keep an eye on him. There’s also Adailton and Sanmartean who could make some damage if they catch a good day.

Striker Mike Temwanjera suffered a muscle injury and he will stay away from the pitch for at least 6 weeks, but he’s not an important absence in my opinion, because Vaslui has Yero Bello to replace him, a player with the same profile.


Probable Vaslui line-up :

Cerniauskas
Milanov, Papp, Farkas, Milisavljevici
Gladstone, Pavlovici
Adailton, Wesley, Sînmărtean
Yero Bello

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The Betting Verdict

Sporting showed great character on their previous home game against Lazio, managing to preserve a narrow advantage despite playing almost half the match with ten men. However, in their domestic league, Sporting only won one of their three home games, failing to defeat Olhanenese and losing to Maritimo.

I choose not to write a preview for Vaslui’s game against Lazio because the Romanians had such a poor away record in Europe and it would have been illogical to back them, but I was sure that at one point they’ll prove that they have the quality to pull off excellent results against top rated teams.

I’m not sure I understand the odds for this game, Lazio had 1.40 for a win against Vaslui and they failed to deliver and now a Sporting win is priced at 1.30. It’s probably because they have maximum points and registered 4 consecutive wins in the Portuguese league, but I still think the odds are short, not worth taking.

The Pick :

BEST BETTING TIP :

Take Both teams to score at 2.10 Bet365
Confidence: 7/10 (Main bet)