Omonia Nicosia and Red Star Belgrade meet in Champions League qualifiers
Omonia Nicosia vs FK Crvena Zvezda - 16/09/2020
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Serbian champions Red Star Belgrade visit GSP Stadium on Wednesday to face Cypriot title-winners Omonia Nicosia in the third qualifying round for the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League.
Omonia Nicosia finished top of the Cypriot First Division last term. Despite finishing level with second-place Anorthosis Famagusta on 46 points, Omonia were awarded the title thanks to their superior head-to-head record.
Meanwhile, Red Star Belgrade finished 14 points ahead of cross-city rivals Partizan to clinch the Serbian SuperLiga trophy – their third consecutive domestic title.
Omonia have already had to come through two qualifying rounds to reach this stage. Henning Berg’s side saw off Ararat-Armenia before getting the better of Legia Warsaw.
The Cypriots have also started their domestic campaign in strong form, going unbeaten in their opening three games. Two draws and one win see the club sitting sixth in the table.
Having taken five points from a possible nine this season, Omonia are in a decent position. However, they must kick on in order to defend their crown.
On the other hand, Red Star thrashed Europa 5-0 in the first qualifying round before edging Tirana in the second phase.
Domestically, Red Star are flying. Managed by former Serie A star Dejan Stankovic, the team have won their opening seven SuperLiga games this term.
Red Star have only conceded three goals in seven league games this season and have scored a whopping 21 along the way. You won’t be surprised to hear that the reigning champions are already five points clear at the top of the table.
Head-to-head: These two sides met in the third round of qualifying for the 2012/13 Europa League, with Red Star advancing on penalties on that occasion.
However, both legs of that tie ended goalless, so there was very little to separate the teams. Having said that, you can’t read too much into a result that happened eight years ago.
Team news: Omonia will be without forward David Ramirez as the Costa Rica international continues to recover from injury.
As for Red Star, goalkeeper Nikola Vasiljevic, winger Aleksandar Katai and forward Nikola Krstovic are all unavailable through injury.
Both teams have started their domestic campaigns in unbeaten fashion, although there is no denying that Red Star have been the better of the two sides.
Forebet predicts that Red Star will extend their winning start to 2020/21 by scoring over 2.5 goals on their way to victory over Omonia.
Home team
Away team
Pred
Correct score
Avg. goals
Weather conditions
Coef.
Score
Live
coef.
UCL
273043
2
1 - 3
2.56
26°
2.28
3.25
3.10
2.28
-1
-1
1
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