Steaua Bucharest vs Zurich Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Steaua Bucharest’s European campaign hasn’t gone entirely to plan so far this season. They made it to the Champions League playoff stage after beating Sparta Prague in the 3rd round qualifiers, but they were pitted against Manchester City and subsequently lost 6-0 on aggregate.

They could have done a lot worse than ending up in the Europa League group stages though, but they haven’t been able to make a fairly open group their own. Villarreal are the overwhelming favourites for the top spot, but between Steaua Bucharest, Zurich, and Osmanlispor any one of them could make a run at qualification. Steaua Bucharest started off with a 2-0 defeat to the Turkish side. They did manage to get a positive 1-1 draw at home to Villarreal though, so a win here could put them back in the hunt.

Their 3rd round qualifying success in the Champions League was thanks to three goals by Nicolas Stanciu in their two legs against Sparta Prague. Unfortunately for Steaua Bucharest, they couldn’t fend off interest from Anderlecht and have lost the young attacker. Left winger Alexandru Chipciu was also a big loss for them, and nobody so far has been able to fill their shoes.

Florin Tanase, who arrived for £1.2 million from Vitorul in the summer, has had a go at it though. The young Romanian winger has scored three goals in the Liga I this season. Rick Boldrin is also one to watch with respect to goal-scoring, with his four Liga I goals making him the top scorer in the squad, although two of these were penalties.

Zurich have their own star attackers to rely on though. Armando Sadiku and Dzengis Cavusevic have each netted five goals this season, whilst ADrien Winter and Oliver Buff have both also bagged three as. Buff, Sadiku, and Cavusevic have each scored two away from home as well, so they will be a threat for Steaua Bucharest. Cavusevic seems the best value of these with regards to betting, and I think you could do a lot worse than backing him to score anytime at 10/3 with bet365.

The visitors in general are in excellent form. They haven’t lost any of their last six games in all competitions, and their only defeat of the season was a 2-1 loss at Villarreal. They have won an impressive 11 of their 15 competitive games this term, putting them top of the Swiss Challenge League and in the running for qualification from this group of the Europa League.

Away from home Zurich have won five, drawn two, and lost one of their eight games, whilst Steaua Bucharest have only won two of their last eight on home turf. Considering the visitors excellent form and Steaua Bucharest’s dodgy start to the season I think the visitors have a real chance of getting something here. Odds of 10/11 for a Zurich Win or Draw Double Chance look very good value to me, and I’m going for a 1-1 correct score prediction at 5/1 as well.