Rijeka – Strasbourg Tip Conference League, round of 16 first leg on Thursday, 12/03/2026 at 18:45 CET
After the first and second legs, I expect, like most bookmakers, that the French will prevail and buy the ticket for the quarter-finals of the Conference League. But according to my Rijeka Strasbourg tip, the foundation for this will not be laid for about a week.
Because I expect the success of my bet envisaged for the first leg on Thursday: RC Strasbourg under 1.5 goals at odds of currently 1.85.
Nobody knows better than HNK how to hermetically seal off their own box – especially with their own crowd behind them. After all, they managed to keep five clean sheets in their last seven UECL games.
What’s more, of all the teams that have played eight games in the current edition of this competition, none has conceded fewer goals than Rijeka (3).
Rijeka vs. Strasbourg AI Predictions:
Our data model took the trouble to run through a Rijeka Strasbourg AI forecast itself and then submitted various betting suggestions to me.
With the recommendation, the betting selection Under 2.5 goals at odds around 1.91, which is popular among sports betting fans, I can make friends with this pairing right away.
Already 6 of the last 9 competitive games of the HNK failed in the attempt to crack this mark – and especially against the technically superior top of the league phase, I firmly expect that the Balkan kickers want to systematically avoid unnecessary risks.
Predicted chance of winning:
| Victory Rijeka |
Draw |
Victory Strasbourg |
| 26.4% |
25.3% |
48.3% |
The AI pick Draw-no-Bet: Strasbourg promises odds of about 1.44 and is thus below my personal playability limit. Furthermore, I doubt that RCS will have the upper hand in the first leg.
However, it cannot be denied that the Croatians are likely to have a hard time. Because Strasbourg took first place in the conference league phase. At the same time, HNK has never won a European match against a Ligue 1 club (2 draws, 2 defeats).
Last but not least, the AI recommends a bet of the type 0:0 at half-time at betting providers with PayPal, which I don’t want to withhold from you. Because the corresponding multiplier of currently 3x has been chosen extremely generously.
What you need to know about Rijeka vs. Strasbourg betting
- The clash between HNK Rijeka and Racing is an absolute European premiere – for the French it is also the first competitive match ever against a Croatian club.
- Rijeka’s “France complex”: The Croatians’ record against French teams can be improved; Rijeka have remained winless in the last four European comparisons (two draws, two defeats), most recently against OSC Lille in the 2023/24 season.
- Racing Strasbourg were the team with the highest points in the entire Conference League league phase (16 points from five wins and one draw) and underlined this strength with a perfect away record – a first in the club’s history in major international competitions.
- With only three goals conceded in eight Conference League games, Rijeka has one of the best defensive lines in the competition.
