Mariupol vs Bordeaux Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Bordeaux will make the almost 2000-mile journey to Mariupol’ for their third round of the Europa League qualifiers. The French should be confident with their fantastic form in France and Europe, carrying them to their 10th win in 13 games last time out. A match-up with either Jagiellonia of Poland or Gent of Belgium awaits the winner of this match and both teams will be desperate to progress to the next stage of the competition.

After Bordeaux crashed out in the third-round last year through an extra time defeat to the Hungarian Videoton, the club have a lot of work to do to prove that they don’t need to rely on Malcom for success this season. The Brazilian winger left for Barcelona in the summer after a fantastic debut season in Europe. Bordeaux were desperate to hang on to the young attacker but ultimately the bright lights of Catalonia drew him from their grasp.

However, now they’re armed with a new young winger in Samuel Kalu and after seeing what can lay ahead of you if you knuckle down and work hard at the club, he must be desperate to get out on the pitch. The Nigerian has been involved in 41 goals in his first 99 professional appearances, so he could turn out to be a real bargain at £7.2m, if he hits the ground running like Malcom did. This could be the opportunity for his first game but he’s in with a challenge to get in the first team as both wingers, Zaydou Youssouf and Francois Kamano have scored recently and been in good form.

As has been said, the French are currently in really impressive form and after a comfortable dispatch of Ventspils in the last round, they should be confident of sweeping past a very poor Mariupol side.

The Ukrainians only scraped through the last round by the narrowest of margins, needing an extra time Ruslan Fomin penalty to get past Djurgarden. But now they face a much more difficult task in the seasoned European regulars of Bordeaux. The chances of Mariupol even getting into the Champions League were very small, with them only qualifying because the other Ukrainian team vying for the spot, Veres Rivne, absolutely imploded during the last six games of the season with three losses and two draws. This is only the team’s second European campaign but unfortunately for them, it looks like it will be ending in the third round.

Mariupol have just suffered absolutely dire form when they needed it most. They closed out last season with three consecutive losses followed by three consecutive 1-1 draws. And then upon their return to the league campaign after the summer, the opportunity to start with a clean slate, they suffered two losses to extremely average opposition and conceded six goals in the process. Many fans will have waited years for this European chance to come along but with the team now sitting one place off the bottom of the table, we expect Bordeaux to hit a few past the Ukranians. They did manage to win their last league game but it was against the bottom side Arsenal Kyiv but it was only with the aid of a penalty, so this shouldn’t prove to be the catalyst which miraculously sends them on a 50-game unbeaten run.

Ultimately, upon achieving European qualification by the skin of their teeth, Mariupol have turned into a very poor side in Ukraine, conceding in all but three of their last 20 matches. Bordeuax, on the other hand, are a very classy team with a lot of excitement around them, winning eight of their last 10 matches. The only problem for the team is that they always seem to allow one goal to go past them, conceding in 10 of their last 13 wins. This coupled with the fact that Mariupol always seem to snatch a scrappy goal in their matches, scoring in all of their last 13 games, means we’re backing the Ukrainians to continue this trend with a goal against the French but ultimately this will be an easy one for Bordeaux to take back to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine.