Champions League
2012-09-19 - Lille vs Bate Borisov
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Champions League group stages
Venue: Grand Stade Lille Métropole, Villeneuve d'Ascq (FRA)
Wednesday 19th September – Kickoff time: 20:45 GMT+1
Lille
Former French champions Lille will be looking to improve this season after finishing bottom in their 2011/12 campaign in a group with Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow and Trabzonspor.
Unlike last season, Lille had to face Kobenhavn in the play-off round to reach the group stages after finishing third in Ligue 1 and they were close to crash out from the competition if it wasn’t for Tullio De Melo’s extra time header to secure their qualification.
Lille begin their campaign without Eden Hazard and Joe Cole who have left the club, while Marko Basa and David Rozenhal are both struggling with injuries.
The good news for coach Rudi Garcia would be that he can count on right-back Mathieu Debuchy who’ll return from a month long injury.
Bate Borisov
Bate Borisov is becoming a regular in Europe’s elite competition, they’ll be back in the UCL group stages for the third time after winning their sixth straight Belarusian title.
Viktor Goncharenko's side have already beaten Vardar of Macedonia, Hungarian outfit Debrecen and Israel's Ironi Kiryat Shmona just to qualify for the group stages this year.
During their previous presence in the group stages, Bate collected two points in six games including a prestigious 1-1 draw at home to Italian giants AC Milan.
Alexander Hleb may be the best known player from Bate’s squad, but Vitali Rodionov is the man to watch, he is Belarus’ top scorer in UEFA club competitions with 15 goals.
The Betting Verdict
Bate is an admirable side, but unfortunately for them the Belorussian championship cannot provide opponents with a level that could prepare them to face Europe’s finest clubs.
Bate is gaining experience, this being their third presence in the group stages and they also have players like Radkov, Polyakov, Bordachev who played for their national team in Paris this month, but I don’t think that it’s enough to hope for the third position in a group with Lille, Valencia and Bayern.
Lille on the other hand could fight with Valencia for the second place in the group, but in order to do that they are not allowed to drop points in the two games against Bate, so I expect them to be fully focused to get the job done.
The odds for the home win are fair but not tempting, so I suggest taking them on AH -1 or to win the game to nil. Bate is good at absorbing pressure, but I can’t see them holding off Lille for the entire 90 minutes and since they are a defensive minded team they shouldn’t have many chances to score against a well organized team.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
Lille 2-0 Bate Borisov
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Lille to win to nil at 2.0 at Bet365Confidence: 6/10
