COPENHAGEN v KuPS
Thursday 19th July 2018 – Kickoff: 2000hrs
Football – Europe – Europa League Betting Tips
The second legs of the first qualifying round in the Europa League resume again in earnest on Thursday night, and my next pick features Danish side, Copenhagen, taking on Finnish club, KuPS, at their Telia Parken ground.
Copenhagen edged the first leg with a 1-0 win over in Kuopio last week, but will now need to ensure a good performance in front of their home faithful to progress into the next qualifying round. After squeezing past AGF Aarhus in a play-off to reach these stages of the Europa League, the hosts got their domestic campaign off to a bad start when they lost 2-1 at home to Horsens earlier this week, so nothing is taken for granted.
But despite winning just once in their last five matches overall, Copenhagen have performed reasonably well at home where the Europa League is concerned; recent wins against Ajax, Zlin and Sheriff were recorded before a heavy 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid last season.
KuPS missed their chance of taking advantage of home soil last week when they lost 1-0 in the first leg to Copenhagen, and they now have a difficult looking trip to Denmark for this second leg on the back of just two wins from their last nine matches overall.
KuPS have recorded some mixed results on their travels overall in recent times as they’ve registered wins at VPS and Inter Turku in the Finnish Veikkausliiga, but have also tasted defeat at Honka and Lahti, again in the Finnish top flight.
The visitors also possess limited experience at Europa League level, and have recorded just one win from their four away ties to date, that being a 2-1 win at Israeli club, Maccabi Netanya, back in 2012.
Copenhagen’s class and quality should ensure a comfortable win here though.
Pick: Copenhagen HT/FT @ 1.62 Bet Victor
