Romanian champion, Steaua Bucuresti always knows that it was heading into the Europa League this year unless it was handed a relatively favorable playoff matchup. Instead of getting a team like Red Bull Salzberg or FC Rostov though, the Romanians ended up landing Manchester City instead. Ouch. Steaua was beaten 5-0 in the first leg of this home-and-home series, and now, it only has 90 minutes of soccer left before taking the drop into the secondary tournament in Europe while the Citizens take their place in the group stage of the UCL.
This Champions League duel will go down Wednesday, August 24, 2016, at 2:45 p.m. ET at Ethiad Stadium. The match will be televised live on FOX Sports 1.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Manchester City -560
Steaua Bucuresti +1450
Draw +650
Over/Under 3
Odds Analysis
Man City was all over the place in the 5-0 romp of Steaua Bucresti in Bucharest just last week, and this will end up being more of an exhibition than a serious match as a result. That said, Pep Guardiola is still tinkering around with the right combination of players to get his team to play at a consistent level game in and game out and challenge for a UCL title, so he very well could be using a dead serious lineup in this duel.
That said, the oddsmakers are expecting to see a young team for sure based on this spread. The margin of just -2 on the Asian Handicap and -560 on the moneyline isn't really one which you'd think you'd be seeing after a team won 5-0 on the road just a handful of days before.
The total of 3 with -125 vig on the over is also relatively low, though if this one plays out like the match did in Bucharest, Steaua won't have a heck of a lot of chance to put one in the back of the Man City net.
The First Leg
Amazingly, Manchester City missed two penalties and clanged two balls off the post against Steaua and still managed to romp to a 5-0 victory. Sergio Aguero was a bit lucky to get a goal off of the bar to complete his hat trick, while Nolito was very likely offside on City's third goal of the day, but the end result of any of those plays clearly didn't matter.
This was the first serious offering of the year for the Citizens, and they looked the part of champions right out of the gate for sure. There was no messing around from the first few minutes of the match, and for the entire time, they were on the front foot, something we would figure to be seeing again in this one.
Recent Form
City is one of the four teams in the Premier League to be sitting on six points through two matches. The Citizens disposed of both Sunderland and Stoke City, the second match of which finished with an emphatic 4-1 result last weekend at Bet365 Stadium.
Steaua did make it through one leg of the Champions League already, beating out Sparta Prague 3-1 on aggregate in 180 minutes. The team has started off in fine form in the Romanian league once again this year as well with 10 points in four matches. Last week's duel against Dinamo Bucuresti was the one blemish of the campaign though, as the score ended 1-1.
Free Soccer Betting Pick
The books aren't in the mood for giving out free money, and that's why any soccer betting line which looks a little too easy to win at probably is a little too easy. Manchester City is a fine team for sure, but Guardiola knows that this match means squat, and there is significantly greater on the horizon from here.
That said, we're going to take the two goals with the Bucharest side and merely cling to the hope that this match can end up being a little bit better than the last one. Surely, it couldn't be much worse.
Champions League Odds: Manchester City 2, Steaua Bucuresti 1
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