Europa League
2013-02-14 - Ajax Amsterdam vs Steaua Bucuresti
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : UEFA Europa League: Round of 32
Venue: "Amsterdam Arena", Amsterdam
Thursday 14th February – Kickoff time: 19:00 GMT+1
Ajax Amsterdam
Ajax Amsterdam will be looking to improve their home record in European competitions against Steaua Bucuresti after suffering some heavy defeats in the UCL group D.
Despite losing 1-4 at the Amsterdam Arena to both Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, the Dutch champions did avoid the bottom place in the group thanks to four points collected against Manchester City.
The final is being played at Ajax's home stadium, the Amsterdam ArenA, on 15 May, so I imagine this competition will be a priority for the Dutch champions, hosting the final is quite an incentive. The last team to play in a UEFA Cup final at their home stadium was Sporting Clube de Portugal in 2005.
Ajax will be coming into this match after recording a poor result in the league, Frank De Boer’s side dropped two points at home against relegation threatened Roda Kerkrade (1-1).
Steaua Bucuresti
Steaua Bucuresti has been a regular at this stage of the competition recently, they have qualified for the round of 32 for the fifth time since 2004. Their best result was obtained in 2006 when they’ve made it to the semifinals.
The Romanians topped group E on their way to this stage, but they did suffer a humiliating 1-5 home defeat against Stuttgart in the group stages. They’ve bounced back with a matchday six draw in Copenhagen to book a place to the round of 32.
The second part of the Romanian league will only start at the end of this month, which means that Steaua Bucuresti have not played a competitive game for more than two months now.
Steaua did quite bad in the friendly games played in Marbella (Spain) and Antalya (Turkey), losing five of their nine matches and that should make them worry ahead of this trip to Amsterdam.
The Betting Verdict
Steaua Bucuresti has not been too successful against Dutch opponents recently, they have lost their last five games in the round of 32 without scoring, three of those matches against Dutch opposition. Their record in Holland reads W1 D2 L3.
However, the Romanians are unbeaten in five European away games this season, three wins and two draws.
Frank De Boer is in charge of a very young but talented squad and I think they’ve got what it takes to create an advantage after the first leg against a Steaua side that will travel to Amsterdam without their best offensive midfielder, Cristian Tanase.
Ajax Amsterdam will be in charge of the game, Steaua will rely mostly on counter attack which is their best weapon, but unfortunately for them they’ve not been able to sign a top striker in the winter break, so finishing may lack quality.
Steaua should be good for a goal though, from what I’ve seen Ajax’s defense looked quite shaky against Roda and Vitesse.
The Pick :
Ajax Amsterdam 2-1 Steaua Bucuresti
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Over 2.5 goals at 1.83 at PinnacleConfidence: 7/10
