BATE vs Astana Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

Astana finished 3rd in the Kazakhstan Premier League regular season, qualifying themselves as one of six teams through to the so called “Championship round”. After a further thirty two fixtures, Astana stood top by just one point, which was enough to crown themselves as domestic champions and qualify them for the UEFA Champions League. Astana were unable to replicate last year’s superb run in the Champions League, in which they became the first team from Kazakhstan to reach the group stage, after their 3-2 aggregate defeat against Brendon Rodgers’ Celtic earlier this month saw them pooled into the Europa League playoff round. Instead, Astana look to prove themselves in the Europa League and bring a 2-0 aggregate lead with them into the second leg.

BATE’s dominance in the Belerusian Premier League is at this point very clear. BATE won the domestic title for a 10th consecutive season in 2015 and they remain the only Belerusian team to have ever qualified for the Champions League group stage, which they have done regularly over the past ten years. They are also just one of two Belerusian teams to ever qualify for the Europa League group stage, along with Dinamo Minsk. With the Belerus Premier League already well underway, this doesnt look to change any time soon either. BATE stand thirteen points ahead of 2nd placed Shakhtor in the league and are unbeaten in twelve consecutive league fixtures (W11 D3).

Though BATE’s prominance in European competition is blemished by their failure to perform on the road, they have an extremely strong home record in Europe in recent years. For example, last season’s Champions League group stage saw them take a 3-2 win at home to Italian side Roma and a 1-1 draw against German giants Bayer Leverkusen. Meanwhile, not only did Astana fail to win any of their away matches in European competition last season, drawing four and losing five of their nine Champions League fixtures, but they also only scored a total of three goals over the same period, an average of under a half goal per game. It seems that Astana, as with many top sides from smaller domestic leagues, really struggle with travelling to European fixtures. BATE are the bookies favourites for this match and we find them a decent price at 10/11 when considering the above. Not to mention that BATE have won their last seven consecutive home matches (five domestic league and two Champions league), conceding just one goal in the process.

As such, we expect BATE to win at 10/11 to be a safe bet for this second leg. Given that FC Astana fail to score so regularly away from home, we also like BATE to win 2-0 at 15/2 with bet365, a result that would see this tie head into extra time.