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Steffen Schmidt - July 24, 2023
Dinamo Zagreb vs Astana
UEFA Champions League Qualification
Date: 25 July 2023, Tuesday
Kick-off at 19:00 UK / 20:00 CET
Venue: Stadion Maksimir (Zagreb).
Dinamo Zagreb begin another quest for the group stages of the elite continental competition on Tuesday evening when they host Kazakh champions Astana in the first leg of the second qualifying round at Stadion Maksimir.
Dinamo have successfully defended their Croatian 1. HNL title for the fifth time in a row last year, confirming to be absolute dominant force in their country along the way.
Nevertheless, we have seen massive changes in the organization of the team ahead of this season and it remains to be seen how these will reflect on the displays on the pitch.
Dario Simic became the new member of the board, clearing the path for the new, democratic version of Dinamo, the one without Zdravko Mamic as the long-term boss.
Simic’s Dinamo Zagreb is going through a very difficult transfer window. The team has huge problems in attempts to keep their four main stars from leaving. All four are still there at the moment but most of them, including national team goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic and national team striker Bruno Petkovic, will likely leave sooner or later.
They are all still in the club, though, and will most likely feature on Tuesday night against Astana which makes Dinamo heavy favorites on the occasion.
The team led by Igor Biscan have also confirmed quality ten days ago by beating bitter rivals Hajduk Split 1-0 in the country’s Super Cup tie at Maksimir Stadion.
Astana, on the other side, had to dig deep to eliminate Dinamo Tbilisi in the first qualifying round of the competition.
After a 1-1 stalemate in the first leg on the home patch, the Kazakh outfit needed two second-half goals to complete a comeback in the reverse outing in Georgian capital to set up this tie against Dinamo Zagreb.
Astana have not played groups of any continental competition since 2019/20 season. Since then, they have suffered eliminations to the likes of Dynamo Brest, Buducnost Podgorica, KuPS, and Rakow across three European competitions.
We expect the hosts to close the tie n the first leg in front of their fans and we will back Dinamo Zagreb to win by two or more goals difference at the 2.50 odds. You can also take the Croatian outfit to have the lead at the half time and win the match at the end at the 2.25 odds.
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