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Steffen Schmidt - August 8, 2023
Neftchi vs Besiktas
UEFA Conference League Qualification
Date: 10 August 2023, Thursday
Kick-off at 18:00 UK / 19:00 CET
Venue: Bakcell Arena (Baku).
Besiktas will continue their UEFA Conference League adventures on Thursday evening with the trip to Baku where they will face Neftchi in the first leg of the third qualifying round at Bakcell Arena.
The Turkish heavyweights did not have any problems with Albanian side Tirana in the previous round, eliminating them via two separate wins, each by two goals difference (5-1 on aggregate).
Senol Gunes’ men enter the new season with high ambitions and several high-profile players such as Vincent Aboubakar, Cenk Tosun, Ante Rebic, Arthur Masuaku, Daniel Amartey, and Gedson Fernandes among others.
Besiktas are big favorites to advance from this tie but it will be very interesting to see whether Neftchi will be able to at least make it interesting by causing the rivals troubles on Azerbaijani soil.
The team from Baku reached this stage by eliminating Bosnian side Zeljeznicar Sarajevo 4-2 on aggregate courtesy of a 2-0 victory in front of the home fans last week.
Adrian Mutu’s men pulled off a much better display on the home patch and deservedly got through, limiting the Bosnians to just four attempts in the 90 minutes of play seven days ago at Bakcell Arena.
Nonetheless, we have to say that Neftchi did slip up at the beginning of the new season in the domestic league, falling 1-0 at Kapaz on Sunday.
If we count preseason friendlies, Mutu’s squad have just one win and five defeats in seven outings this summer. This is by no means a record you want to have going face to face with the likes of Besiktas.
Neftchi have shown their attacking limits in preseason by failing to find the back of the net in any of three friendlies against Red Star Belgrade, Fenerbahce, and Spartak Moscow. They also failed to score in the weekend’s 1-0 defeat at Kapaz at the start of the new campaign in the domestic league.
We will back Besiktas to win as the main pick at the 1.66 odds while the braver tipsters can chase the 2.50 odds offered for the Turkish side to keep a clean sheet on Thursday.
