Steaua Bucharest vs Manchester City Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Steaua Bucharest certainly aren’t doing it the easy way in the Champions League this season. Their first tie in this season’s campaign drew them against a strong Sparta Prague team in the 3rd Qualifying Round, but they managed to make it through that courtesy of a 2-0 home win and a 1-1 draw back in the Czech Republic.

They may have been hoping for an easier draw in the final round before the group stages, but unfortunately for them they ended up with one of the toughest ties of this playoff round: A Pep Guardiola managed Manchester City side.

The hosts are in decent form at the moment though. They have won all of their opening three Liga I matches this season and find themselves at the top of the table, and their triumph over Sparta Prague will have given them an awful lot of confidence. Overall they have now won nine of their last ten and are unbeaten in 16 matches.

Steaua Bucharest do have pedigree in this competition as well, with them regularly making the group stages earlier in the millennium, and their last appearance in the groups was only back in the 2013/14 season. However, Manchester City will be very tough opposition.

The big spending Manchester City are yet to conquer Europe though. Last season saw them go further than ever before in the Champions League when they reached the semi final of the competition, but ultimately Real Madrid proved why they are the most successful team in European history.

This was progress though, and the big spending owners have ramped up their efforts for continental silverware. Pep Guardiola, one of the most sought after managers in the world, was brought in, in the summer, and coming with him were a host of big money signings. Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus, and John Stones offer genuine quality right now as well as a large amount of potential, whilst Ikay Gundogan and Nolito bring yet more quality and experience into the club.

But with over £160 million spent on transfers this season the owners will be demanding success from Guardiola. His pre-season didn’t go particularly well as Manchester City failed to win any of their games in normal time. The Premier League opener against Sunderland wasn’t overly impressive either, with the hosting Manchester City requiring a late own goal from the visitors to snatch the three points.

Manchester City certainly didn’t look like a fully optimised team unit on Saturday, and Steaua Bucharest is not an easy place to go. They have only lost one of their last eight home games in the Champions League, and in competitive matches they haven’t lost on home turf since November last year.

The visitors are known for their poor form on the road, especially in Europe. They did manage to break down some of those barriers last season but I think Steaua Bucharest have a good chance of holding their own at home on Tuesday. The last time they lost at home by more than a single goal margin was nearly a year ago, so I think odds of 2.100 for a Steaua Bucharest +1.0 Asian Handicap Win look excellent value. I’m going for a 1-1 correct score prediction at 17/2 as well.