Back
Steffen Schmidt - July 6, 2021
Ludogorets vs Shakhtyor
UEFA Champions League Qualification,
Date: Wednesday, 7 July 2021
Kick-off 18:00 UK/ 19:00 CET
Venue: Huvepharma Arena.
Ludogorets will begin the new UEFA Champions League qualifying campaign on Wednesday evening when they play host to Shakhtyor Soligorsk at Huvepharma Arena.
If you want to define dominance, you should look no further than the Bulgarian top flight in football.
Ludogorets celebrated their tenth consecutive domestic title last year, finishing the First League campaign nine points clear off Lokomotiv Plovdiv in second place.
They have expanded the influence on the elite continental competitions along the way as well, featuring the group stages of both Champions League (in 2014 and 2016) and Europa League on multiple occasions.
Ludogorets made it to the Europa League groups in the previous season, but their fans will want to quickly forget the experience they’ve had there as the team lost each of six games against Antwerp, Tottenham, and LASK.
Nonetheless, Ludogorets are still massive favorites against any club in the opening round of the Champions League qualifications and Shakhtyor Soligorsk are by no means an exception.
The Bulgarians have a much greater experience in continental competitions than their Belarusian rivals who have only managed to snatch their second domestic league title last season.
Shakhtyor played the Champions League qualifiers just once, back in 2006 when they fell 0-2 on aggregate to Bosnian side Siroki Brijeg.
Shakhtyor proved the lack of continental experience limits by suffering an embarrassing elimination at the hands of Moldovan Sfintul Gheorghe at the very start of their Europa League qualifying journey last season.
The two clubs are set to battle it out for the first time ever on Wednesday.
With all due respect to Shakhtyor Soligorsk who ended BATE Borisov’s dominance in Belarus last year, the visitors travel to Bulgaria as massive underdogs. We would be surprised to see any other scenario but a comprehensive home victory here due to the pure gulf in quality between the two outfits.
Since we expect the hosts to control the tie from the very first whistle, the value is great with the 2.37 odds offered for Ludogorets Razgrad to have the lead at the half time and win the match at the end.
[su_button url=”http://localhost/Projects/ll/champions-league/” style=”flat” background=”#FF4500″ size=”5″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”0″ icon=”icon: soccer-ball-o” icon_color=”#ffffff”]Read all Champions League Predictions[/su_button]
