Europa League
2013-02-14 - Inter Milan vs CFR Cluj
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : UEFA Europa League: Round of 32
Venue: "Giuseppe Meazza", Milano
Thursday 14th February – Kickoff time: 21:05 GMT+1
Inter Milan
Inter Milan expressed their intention to win the Europa League this season, which would be their fourth success in the competition.
The Italians only finished second in the group stages behind Russian side Rubin Kazan, but they weren’t playing at full throttle, Inter did just enough to qualify.
Coach Stramaccioni rested his key players in most games and gave some playing time to promising youngsters like Laveja, Benassi or Garritano. As a result Inter have won only once in five European home games this season, with three of their last four UEFA Europa League fixtures at San Siro ending in 2-2 draws.
Their stats look way better against Romanian opposition, they are unbeaten in their last seven games against Romanian sides (W6 D1). Inter’s 16 previous contests with Romanian sides have ended W10 D3 L3.
CFR Cluj
CFR Cluj had a great campaign in the UCL group stages collecting 10 points (a record for Romania) in a group with Manchester United, Galatasaray and Braga and were very unlucky to miss the second spot.
The good performances attracted attention towards their players and CFR decided to let two of their key players go, so Rafael Bastos (Al Nasr) and Modou Sougou (Marseille) left for a total of 7m euros in transfer fees.
CFR Cluj were then drawn against Inter Milan in the Europa League and they don’t really have chances to win the Romanian championship at this point (only 5th in the standings) so they decided not to invest in transfers during this period.
As a result I can say that the squad have lost a lot of quality, the remaining players (especially in midfield) are not worthy replacements for those who left, so I don’t see how can they eliminate Inter under these circumstances.
The Betting Verdict
CFR Cluj are appearing in the spring leg of a major UEFA competition for the first time in their history and unfortunately for them I think this is as far they’ll get.
Inter Milan had a strong performance against Chievo during the weekend (3-1), Stramaccioni’s squad had been boosted by the return of striker Diego Milito who actually scored Inter’s third goal.
I really can’t see how will a weakened CFR Cluj side manage to keep out Inter, they have a lot of firepower with Milito in front supported by Cassano and Palacio, so I expect no surprises here.
Freddy Guarin will also return after serving a one match ban against Chievo, taking him to score anytime at 3.3 (Paddy) could be a good side bet. Guarin scored 7 goals for Inter in 20 appearances and he seems to be firing from every position.
The Pick :
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Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
