Saint Gilloise VS Malmö FF

Royale Union SG and Malmö lock horns in this UEFA Europa League group stage round clash at Stade Joseph Marien early Friday morning Beijing time. This is the second highest of UEFA’s club competitions after Champions League. The hosts are a Belgian team. The visitors are reigning Swedish champions. The bookies once again under-estimate Royale Union SG here! They are a very interesting team indeed: They were promoted to the Jupiler Pro League for last season and got very close to winning the championship! In my view this would have been the biggest surprise in European football since Leicester lifting the Premier League trophy back in 2016 at the odds of around 5000/1. Today’s hosts topped the standings after the regular season but the biggest team in Belgium, Club Brugge, eventually beat them by four points’ margin. Interestingly, Club Brugge beat a strong Bundesliga team Bayer Leverkusen in the opening round of Champions League and shockingly crushed a very strong Portuguese team, FC Porto, 4-0 at Estádio do Dragão in front of some 40 000 fans this Tuesday. Indeed, Royale Union SG had a balanced battle last season at their domestic league with a very strong team! The hosts can be extremely proud of their achievement. I have to admit that I, along with the betting market, most football analysts and many professional football bettors underestimated them last season but now we have to realize how good they are!

The hosts have an excellent manager Geraerts and according to my sources the team spirit is also, rather unsurprisingly, awesome! For the hosts’ fans last season was and this season’s Europa League matches are a great adventure, and the motivation must be sky-high! I expect the atmosphere to be extraordinary at the stadium here! Indeed, in the opening round of they took all three points in Berlin against a good German Bundesliga team, Union Berlin. The final score was 1-0. What an amazing and morale-boosting achievement! Union Berlin were slightly better on the pitch as a whole, but the massive underdogs were able to resist in an admirable way – defending with great attitude and had a very solid defensive structure. Union Berlin recorded only 56% ball possession and just three shots on target – the same number as Royale Union SG. In their most recent match, they were unlucky to lose to Genk 1-2 at home after 57% ball possession and recording more passes, completed passes, attacks and dangerous passes. Genk, one of the biggest team in Belgium, did record a little more shots on goal as well as scoring attempts though.

Malmö, on the other hand are having a very disappointing season. They are only in the 5th place in the Swedish Allsvenskan with 37 points in the pocket – nine points less than the leaders, Häcken. Let’s keep in mind that Allsvenkan is much worse a league than Jupiler Pro League - especially in terms of tempo and offensive players’ skill-level. It is hard to understand how Malmö made it the Champions League group stage last season! Well, they of course had a lot of luck on their side and only just qualified over a pretty lowly Latvian team as well as the team from my home city, HJK Helsinki, who were far from this season’s level in the summer of 2021. I am positive the betting market does understand Malmö’s current true class – they are a lot weaker than last season! Malmö were disappointing last week losing to Braga at home 0-2. Braga are, of course, a strong team but Malmö were only narrow underdogs in this match according to the bookies and I would have expected more from them at Eleda Stadion in front of close to 15 000 loud fans. Malmö did beat Norrköping 2-1 at home in their most recent match but did not excite me with their performance as big favorites. Norrköping are a pretty lowly team after all.. The chance of the Swedes flying home without any points is 67%. Hosts will be without Japanese K. Machida. Malmö will have to manage without A. Nalic and M. Siby.

圣吉联合和马尔默在北京时间周五早上在约瑟夫马里恩体育场举行的欧足联欧洲联赛小组赛阶段比赛中交锋。这是继欧洲冠军联赛之后欧足联俱乐部比赛的第二高。东道主是比利时队。参观者是瑞典卫冕冠军。机构再次低估了圣吉联合！他们确实是一支非常有趣的球队：他们上赛季升入了Jupiler Pro League，距离冠军很近！在我看来，这将是自莱斯特在 2016 年以 5000/1 左右的赔率举起英超联赛奖杯以来欧洲足坛最大的惊喜。今天的东道主在常规赛结束后高居榜首，但比利时最大的球队布鲁日俱乐部最终以 4 分的优势击败了他们。有趣的是，布鲁日俱乐部在欧冠首轮就击败了德甲强队勒沃库森，震惊地碾压了一支实力非常强大的葡萄牙队FC本周二，波尔图在约 40 000 名球迷面前在 Estádio do Dragão 以 4-0 领先。事实上，Royale Union SG 上赛季在他们的国内联赛中与一支非常强大的球队进行了一场平衡的战斗

主队可以为他们的成就感到非常自豪。我不得不承认，我和博彩市场一样，上赛季大多数足球分析师和许多职业足球投注者都低估了他们，但现在我们必须意识到他们有多好！ 东道主有一位出色的经理 Geraerts，根据我的消息来源，团队精神也毫不奇怪，令人敬畏！对于东道主的球迷来说，上赛季和本赛季的欧联杯比赛都是一次伟大的冒险，动力一定是天价！我希望这里的体育场气氛非同寻常！事实上，在首轮比赛中，他们在柏林对阵一支优秀的德甲球队柏林联时拿下了全部三分。最终比分是1-0。多么令人惊奇和鼓舞士气的成就！柏林联合稍微好一点整个球场，但巨大的弱者能够以令人钦佩的方式进行抵抗 - 以出色的态度进行防守并且拥有非常坚固的防守结构。柏林联合仅记录了 56% 的控球率和 3 次射门——与 Royale Union SG 相同。在他们最近的一场比赛中，他们在主场以 57% 的控球率 1-2 输给了亨克，并且记录了更多的传球、完成的传球、进攻和危险的传球。亨克是比利时最大的球队之一，但他的射门次数和得分尝试确实有所增加。

另一方面，马尔默的赛季非常令人失望。他们仅在瑞典超级联赛中以 37 分的成绩排在第 5 位，比领先者 Häcken 少 9 分。让我们记住，Allsvenkan 是一个比 Jupiler Pro League 差得多的联赛——尤其是在节奏和进攻球员的技术水平方面。很难理解马尔默是如何进入欧冠小组赛最后阶段的季节！好吧，他们当然有很多运气，只是刚刚击败了一支相当低劣的拉脱维亚队以及来自我的家乡赫尔辛基的球队，他们在 2021 年夏天与本赛季的水平相差甚远。我我很肯定博彩市场确实了解马尔默目前的真实水平——他们比上赛季弱了很多！马尔默上周在主场0-2输给布拉加令人失望。布拉加当然是一支强大的球队，但根据博彩公司的说法，马尔默在这场比赛中只是微弱的失败者，我本来希望他们在埃莱达体育场在近 15 000 名大声的球迷面前表现得更好。马尔默在最近的一场比赛中确实在主场以 2-1 击败了诺尔雪平，但他们作为大热门的表现并没有让我感到兴奋。诺尔雪平毕竟是一支相当低级的球队。瑞典人没有任何积分就飞回家的几率是 67%。主持人将没有日本人 K. Machida。马尔默缺少了A. Nalic 和 M. Siby 。