Champions League Quali, Playoffs, first leg, Wednesday, 21.08.2024 at 21:00
They’ve already made it through two rounds, now comes the decisive one! Malmö and Sparta Prague meet in the Champions League play-offs on Wednesday, with the first leg being about the ideal starting position for clash number two.
First of all, the two teams will meet on Swedish soil, and the bookmakers are not quite sure who they favor at odds of 2.50 to 2.90. In my Malmö Sparta Prague betting tip, I take a look at the match and also tell you why I think the “Both teams to score” bet makes sense
For almost 20 years, Sparta Prague fans have been waiting to finally be able to cheer on their team in the Champions League again – is 2024/25 the season that will actually make that possible again?
The top club from the Golden City has already set out to make it to the top flight in the second round of qualifying. The opponent: Shamrock Rovers, so it’s doable
The results were correspondingly pleasing, with Sparta first winning 2:0 away from home and later adding a 4:2 victory. They were then drawn against Steau Bucharest, which was also not the toughest of draws.
Initially, they only managed a 1:1 draw at home, but a 3:2 away win allowed them to celebrate. Veljko Birmancevic scored his third goal of the competition, but as his team had already led 3-0 after 37 minutes, they would not have needed the two goals they conceded
Of course, anyone who wants to criticize can say: five goals conceded in the last three games, isn’t that a bit much? You can see it that way, but Sparta are still managing to compensate for the slip-ups offensively.
In the Czech league, the team relies on a similar principle. While city rivals Slavia impress with a strong defense, Sparta do things differently. 2:1, 4:1, 2:0, 2:1, 2:1 – a favorite result is on the horizon!
I take a look at the Sunmaker app and see that if this result were to happen in Malmö, the odds would jump to an average of 8.80 – quite profitable.
Since all the away games in both the league and the CL qualifiers have been won, it doesn’t have to be a disadvantage that the first game is away from home. Or how do the bookmakers assess the situation?
As I mentioned at the beginning, the Czechs are just behind with odds of 2.90 to 2.50 on average. However, there is of course also the option of betting on who will progress before the first leg.
In this case, Sparta is ahead with odds of 1.65 to 2.15. Incidentally, the two teams have already played each other once, or rather twice, in 2014, including in the Champions League qualifiers.
The first leg was won 4:2 by Sparta, but the second leg went 2:0 to the Swedes, who were able to celebrate thanks to the away goals rule.
Malmö don’t really want to make it that exciting this time. It’s actually a minor miracle that the team has made it this far anyway, as they’ve only won one of their four qualifying matches!
Against Klaksvik, everything was almost clear after the 4:1 win in the first leg, meaning that they were able to lose 3:2 afterwards. Things got even more dramatic a little later against PAOK Thessaloniki
First 2:2, then 4:3 after extra time, that could have been a disaster! In the sixth minute of stoppage time, Malmö saved themselves in extra time, so this match was not for the faint-hearted.
There are always goals on both sides here, which fits in perfectly with Sparta Prague’s statistics. In the league, by the way, Malmö have been back in action for a long time and are leading the competition
Does Malmö really squeeze into the Champions League with so few wins? The Swedes are using their strength very carefully, doing what is necessary. On the other hand, Sparta Prague seem a bit more confident to me.
The Czechs concede goals, even in their league, but score all the more themselves. My analysis has shown that the eight qualifying matches between the two teams have produced a total of 35 goals.
Therefore, I have decided that one of the absolute betting classics is actually without alternative and I make the following tip:
Both teams score!
