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Steffen Schmidt - August 6, 2023
AEK vs Dinamo Zagreb
UEFA Champions League Qualifications
Date: 8 August 2023, Tuesday
Kick-off at 19:45 UK / 20:45 CET
Venue: OPAP Arena (Athens).
AEK return to continental competition after last season’s pause. They will begin the new journey on Tuesday evening with the home fixture against Dinamo Zagreb in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.
AEK won their first Greek Super League 1 title since the 2017/18 campaign last season, finishing five points clear of runners-up Panathinaikos.
They have a very strong squad full of foreign internationals including Djibril Sidibe, Domagoj Vida, Mijat Gacinovic, Nordin Amrabat, Niclas Eliasson, Ehsan Hajisafi, Orbelin Pineda, Damian Szymanski, Steven Zuber, Levi Garcia, Paolo Fernandes, Tom van Weert, etc.
The Greek champions have shown impressive preseason form, bagging three or more goals in each of four consecutive wins over Antwerp, Shakhtar Donetsk, Volos, and Trabzonspor.
The fact they have shipped just one goals at the opposite end in the process says enough about their strength and form ahead of the maiden competitive game of the new season.
Nevertheless, Dinamo Zagreb have also been more than impressive in their recent displays, eliminating Kazakh champions Astana 6-0 on aggregate in the previous qualifying round.
Luka Ivanusec made a huge difference in the tie by completing a hat-trick in the first leg at Stadion Maksimir.
Dinamo Zagreb have bagged nine goals in the last three outings across competitions while keeping their net untouched along the way.
This is a match between two teams of similar quality and we expect a couple of tight and nervous affairs without too much to separate the outfits. Knowing how tough to break down both teams have been so far this summer, we lean towards the Under 2.5 goals FT as the main betting option at the 1.72 odds.
As for the outcome, we like Dinamo Zagreb to avoid a defeat at the 1.66 odds simply because we feel they are underpriced here knowing they have regularly played group stages of continental competitions in the last decade.
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