CFR Cluj vs FC Astana Predictions

Cluj will have been hoping to travel back to Romania with something to show for their efforts, though after losing the first leg by a goal to nil, they go into this second leg empty-handed. Fortunately, they avoided a heavy defeat and are thus still very much in the tie.

The Romanians did come off second best last week, though they shouldn’t be too disheartened, as they were far from well-beaten, while given that they played away from home, their performance wasn’t totally discouraging. Going forward, they weren’t especially threatening – an expected-goals for number of 0.88 isn’t great – but they weren’t exactly outplayed in terms of creativity, as their opponents only mustered 1.05.

However, while the Romanian outfit didn’t receive a battering in the first leg, they did look somewhat toothless, which doesn’t exactly bode well ahead of this match. By registering 14 shots, they outshot their opponents by two, though Cluj failed to hit the target. In contrast, Astana registered five shots on target, one of which hit the net, another of which forced a strong save.

Cluj may not be too disappointed to have lost by a goal to nil away from home, but Astana will be very pleased to be going into the second leg having not just won first up but having avoided conceding an away goal. Having dominated the game last week without ever really coming under pressure, the side from Kazakhstan will fancy themselves to get the job done on foreign shores.

As hosts, Cluj come into this match as favourites, though based on the way the game panned out just a week ago, it’s easy to feel that they’ve been slightly overestimated by the early market. At the same time, the visitors appear to have been underestimated a tad. Defensively, Astana, who last season held Danish side Midtjylland to a draw away from home in qualifying, looked sturdy last week, while they were the side that created the far more positive impression overall, so much so that they ought to be shorter in the betting. Therefore, a small play on ‘Astana +1 handicap’ offers punters a slither of value.