Bordeaux V Club Brugge – Thursday, 20 September 2012 (Kick-Off: 18:00)
Betting Selection: Lay of Bordeaux @ 1.70 on Betfair
Alternative: Bordeaux NOT to keep a clean sheet @ 1.8 on Betfair
For some odd reason, bookmakers must clearly rate French football, as why else would Bordeaux – a team who finished well off the pace in last season’s Ligue 1, 21-points behind champions Montpellier in fifth – be such strong favourites here? Their domestic form this season in particular has been solid but far from spectacular, with Les Girondins currently residing in fifth having gone their first five games unbeaten. Although three of those were draws, their most recent three in fact, having also accrued just five goals in as many games.
Plus, they can consider themselves mighty fortunate to still be in the competition after almost coming a cropper against Serbian side Red Star Belgrade in the play-off. A goalless draw in Serbia left the tie hanging in the balance heading back to France, where an epic was played out: Red Star Belgrade thought they had won it after levelling the score at 2-2 in the first minute of stoppage time (away goal rule would have then come into play), only for Yoan Gouffran to net right at the death and spare Bordeaux’s blushes.
Now, people can undermine the Belgian Pro League all they want but some of the top sides, the likes of Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Standard Liege, have all proven to be stiff opposition at this level in recent times. It is Club Brugge who feature here and the current league leaders – four points clear of defending champions Anderlecht, who on Tuesday held AC Milan to a 0-0 draw in Italy at the San Siro – are way over priced at 5/1.
This is a team full of confidence on the back of a seven-game unbeaten start (W5 D2) to the new domestic season, in which they’ve plundered 18 goals in total. Furthermore, they cruised into the tournament proper with a resounding 7-1 aggregate victory over Hungarian champions Debrecen, netting 3-0 without reply in the away leg. A far cry from Bordeaux’s tumultuous qualification.
Moreover, this competition will hold no surprises for Club Brugge, as in last years edition of the Europa League they finished top of their section, topping what was a fairly weak group in all fairness. However, they were especially impressive on their travels, with 8 of their 12 group goals coming away from home, drawing 2-2 at Birmingham but landing high-scoring triumphs at Braga (1-2) and Maribor (3-4).
The Belgian visitors, then, on paper at least, and based on their current form, have more than enough about them, from an offensive point of view anyway, to trouble a Bordeaux team who have found goals hard to come by so far this season, failing to net at all at the weekend as they played out a goalless draw with Valenciennes.
I’ll be laying the hosts at around 4/6 with glee – Bordeaux are 1.7 to win on Betfair – while we can get roughly the same odds on the home side failing to keep a clean sheet, which I suspect might be the case on Thursday if Club Brugge continue their trend of producing high-scoring encounters on the road in Europe.
Match Pointers
- French side Bordeaux, who finished 21 points adrift of the champions last season, have made a five-game unbeaten start to new Ligue 1 season (W2 D3) but have drawn their last three league matches; they’ve also scored just five goals in total, including one in each of their two home games.
- Bordeaux edged out Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda in their Europa League Play-Off, drawing 0-0 in Serbia before netting right at the death to clinch a 3-2 victory back in France and avoid a shock early exit.
- Club Brugge are currently four points clear at top of the Belgian Pro League, above champions Anderlecht who on Tuesday drew 0-0 at AC Milan in Champions League, after making impressive seven-game unbeaten start (W5 D2), scoring 18 goals in the process.
- Thrashed Hungarian champions Debrecen 7-1 in EL Play-Off, winning 3-0 away and 4-1 at home.
