Lincoln Red Imps Vs CFR Cluj
Lincoln Red Imps Vs CFR Cluj Tuesday 20 July, 2021 – 17:00
UEFA Champions League Qualifying
Pick: Over 3.5 Goals
Odds: 13/8
Bookmaker: BetVictor
(All betting odds correct at time of writing: 18 July 2021)
Preview: After dishing out a 5-0 scoreline to the last visiting team in the first round, Lincoln Red Imps will approach this second round of Champions League qualifying in bullish mood looking to spring an upset over Romania side CFR Cluj.
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Table of Contents
Lincoln Red Imps – Verging on history after five-goal heroics?
While this isn’t exactly uncharted territory, we are not far off it. Gibraltar’s most decorated club, collecting their 24th league title at the end of the 2020-21 season after finishing a point clear of Europa FC, are into the second qualifying round of the Champions League for only the second time. Having lost both prior ties at this stage, The Imps will be looking to create a small piece of history over both legs.
The club famously upset Scottish giants Celtic 1-0 at home the last they made it as far as this, in 2016, only to be swatted aside in the second leg 3-0. The season before, meanwhile, they were beaten home (2-0) and away (1-0) by Danish side Midtylland, who, incidentally, face Celtic later in the evening. They have since lost all three two-legged ties played, against AEK Limassol, TNS, and Ararat-Armenia.
This was until meeting Luxembourg’s Fola Esch in the previous round. After drawing the away leg 2-2, Lincoln Red Imps produced something of a minor upset in Gibraltar, scoring five unanswered goals in a 5-0 rout at Victoria Stadium. It helped, of course, that their opponents were reduced to ten men on the hour. But by that stage Lincoln were already three goals to the good and heading for the next round.
CFR Cluj – On high alert following last round scare?
For the third season in a row, Romania side CFR Cluj will compete for a place in the third round of Champions League qualifying. This after scraping past last season’s league champions from Bosnia, Borac Banja Luka, 4-3 on aggregate. Had that tie taken place twelve months earlier, however, they would have been eliminated on the away goals rule. As it is, they live to fight another day.
Cluj went into the previous round as firm favourites to progress – not as short as they are here but short enough – and ended up needing an Alexandru Chipciu goal deep into the second period of extra-time to move on. Their complacency almost cost them dearly, with only the controversial scrapping of the away goals rule sparing them what would have been their earliest ever exit from the Champions League.
That the Romanians, a domestic champion in each of the past four seasons, having qualified for the Europa League group stage the last two times, were forced into an additional thirty minutes last time owed much to their profligacy that night. Cluj peppered the Bosnian goal with 33 shots over the course of the whole contest, seven testing the goalkeeper, yet didn’t find a breakthrough until the dying embers.
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Lincoln Red Imps Vs CFR Cluj Betting Advice
It would seem beating Celtic is for everybody? Both these clubs can lay claim to having recently beaten what had until last season been the dominant force in Scotland. It is the visitors, however, boasting a wealth of European experience which should see them ease to a first leg victory. That being said, similar was expected of them in the previous round and they made incredibly hard work of negotiating that tie.
Lincoln Red Imps Vs CFR Cluj – Key Facts:
- Nine goals were scored across both legs of Lincoln Red Imps first round tie with Fola Esch. After a 2-2 draw in Luxembourg, The Imps recorded a 5-0 victory upon returning to Gibraltar.
- Despite a 3-1 first leg win and dominant second leg display, CFR Cluj lost 2-0 away to Borac Banja Luka and required a late extra-time winner to progress on to round two.
- This will mark only the third appearance in the second qualifying round for Lincoln Red Imps. Cluj, meanwhile, are well versed in Europe, competing in the Europa League group stage the last two seasons.
Goals have been a regularly theme in these side’s European encounters thus far. Nine were scored across Lincoln Red Imps’ tie with Fola Esch, five coming here in Gibraltar where The Imps ran amok in a 5-0 whitewash. Seven were scored in Cluj’s tie with Borac Banjka Luka (one in extra-time), and after a dominant away performance, that resulted in a 2-0 loss, they will wonder how more weren’t scored.
Best Betting Odds – Lincoln Red Imps vs CFR Cluj
Lincoln Red Imps – 12/1 (Betfair)
Draw – 9/2 (PaddyPower)
CFR Cluj – 2/9 (BetVictor)
