Maribor vs Qabala Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

Qabala, who finished 3rd in the Azerbaijani Premier League last season, are already two matches into their new domestic campaign, with one win and one draw under their belt. Qabala entered the UEFA Europa League in the first qualifying round and now find themselves in the playoff stage, thanks to convincing aggregate wins against Georgian side Samtredia, Hungarian side MTK, and French side Lille. Qabala have won all but two of their UEFA Europa League matches this summer (W5 D1 L1), but a hard second leg here on the road should prove challenging.

Maribor will continue to be tricky competition. Though their form has seemed a bit shaky as of late in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, taking two defeats and two draws from their last four, they put in a solid performance in the first leg and probably deserved more than to come into this 3-1 down on aggregate. The Slovenians registered more shots on target than the Azerbaijani side and were unlucky to concede a goal from a scrappy corner. Maribor are experienced in European competition, failing to advance to the Champions League third qualifying round for the first time since their 2003/2004 season this year, and they’ll know exactly what they need to do on their home leg to progress through to the group stages.

Maribor are the bookies favourites here, with their first leg performance and home advantage pricing them at 1/1. Though Qabala are becoming a more prominent side in Europe, travelling to foreign countries for second leg fixtures takes it strain and that shows in their results. Qabala have won just once away from home in all of their Europa League appearances (W1 D4 L6) in the last year. Meanwhile, Maribor are in decent home form. Maribor have lost just one of their last six competitive home matches (W3 D2 L1) and have kept a clean sheet in four of these. Maribor need a 2-0 aggregate win to qualify for the next round, thanks to their away goal in the first leg, and we expect that the Slovenians will have even more chances than than Qabala in this leg. Their experience in European competition, home advantage, and home form should be enough to see them through.

As such, NK Maribor to win at 1/1 and NK Maribor to win 2-0 at 8/1 are our choice bets for this Europa League second leg tie.