Cork City vs Legia Warsaw Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Cork City may be in a title race in their domestic league, but that has to go on hold ahead of their clash with Legia Warsaw on Tuesday. While they’re struggling to retain their domestic title, they’re now in to the Champions League, and they’ll be pushing to go on a strong run in the competition. Dundalk have looked strong in their European ties in recent seasons, including a narrow loss to Legia in the final qualifier back in the 2016-17 season. Will Cork fall to the same opponents, or do they have the chance to make a push for the group stage?

The hosts have a really tough tie to kick off their European campaign, with Legia claiming the league title with a strong domestic campaign. They’ll be looking to retain their title when their domestic campaign starts later this month, but first the Champions League is the main concern. Legia were in the group stage in 2016, thanks to a victory over Dundalk. They faced the likes of Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund then, but their path to the last 32 is much tougher this season. With 32 sides in their qualifying draw – and more to come – just four of those national champions will make the group stage, which has already filled 26 of 32 slots.

Legia do have the talent to make a push for the group stage, and they should certainly see off a Cork side who are wobbling. A year ago they were smashing teams for fun on their way to the Irish title, but this time around they’re four points shy of Dundalk, following a point from their last two games. A 0-0 at home to Shamrock Rovers – who fellow Champions League qualifying hopefuls Celtic just smashed 7-0 – left the Irish champions compromised. Can they bounce back from that to claim a win this week?

It’s been 12 years since Cork’s last Champions League campaign, while Legia have won four of their last five matches, including a victory against Sporting Lisbon. The Polish side have much greater European experience, and they’ve started recent campaigns automatically in the second round. Their Champions League record is solid without facing easier fixtures at this stage, so we expect Legia to do well.

The visitors come here with great recent experience in Ireland, and they’ve tasted recent European success. With Cork struggling at the moment, this seems like the perfect opportunity for Legia to claim a victory, and put a foot in to the second round of the qualifiers. We’re backing an away win here, along with a 2-0 victory for the Polish champions.