Sports Blog 21/07/2016: UEFA Europa League Preview – 2nd Round Qualifying 2nd Leg, Thursday 21st July 2016

With Celtic through to the next round of Champions League qualifying can Aberdeen, Hibernian and Hearts do the same in the Europa League?

First up is Aberdeen, who travel to Latvia to face Ventspils at 4pm on Premier Sports. Though they left it late 3 goals in the final 20 minutes of the 1st leg gives Derek McInnes’ side a pretty large lead to defend later this evening. Already Aberdeen have beaten Luxembourg’s Fola Esch in the 1st qualifying round, while Ventspils were victorious against the Faroe Islands Vikngur Gota. Our Spreadex traders aren’t expecting any issues for the Scottish side, offering an Aberdeen/Ventspils (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.3-0.5 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.55-2.75.



With easily the toughest draw of the 3 Scottish teams in the competition, Hibernian then travel to Denmark to take on Brondby at 7pm on Premier Sports. Hibs 1st leg defeat against the Danish side marked the team’s entry into Europa League qualifying having won the 2016 Scottish Cup. Brondby, meanwhile, beat Iceland’s Valur 10-1 on aggregate in the 1st round, before going on to win in Scotland last week thanks to a 1st minute goal from Kamil Wilczek (who has now scored 4 in qualifying so far). It looks like Hibs, still in the Championship after losing their Premiership play-off semi-final to Falkirk last season, may struggle on Thursday evening, Spreadex offering a Brondby/Hibernian Goal Supremacy spread of 1-1.2 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.65-2.85.



Finally at 8pm on Premier Sports Hearts host Maltese Premier League bronze-medallists Birkirkara. A goalless draw in front of just shy of 2000 fans in Paola, Malta was hardly the best performance from Hearts, especially since in the previous round they had managed to beat Estonia’s Infonet Tallinn 6-3 on aggregate. As for Birkirkara, who were knocked out by West Ham at this point in the competition last year (but only on penalties), a 3-1 victory over Bosnia & Herzegovina’s NK Siroki Brijeg led them to their game against Hearts, and they will be aiming to reach the 3rd qualifying round of a European competition for the first time in their history on Thursday. Not that they will, at least if our traders have any say on the matter, Spreadex offering a Hearts/Birkirkara Goal Supremacy spread of 1.3-1.5 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.5-2.7.

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