Botev Plovdiv vs APOEL Match Analysis and prediction

2 years ago 354

Botev Plovdiv and APOEL Nicosia will begin their Europa Conference League qualification campaign when they face off at the National Stadion Vasil Levski in the first leg of the second qualifying round on Wednesday night.

Botev Plovdiv finished third in the Bulgarian Parva Liga last season to book an automatic spot in the second round of the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers.

They have now failed to win the domestic league title in 55 years now and they have had a poor start to the 2022/23 campaign, losing their opening two matches. They surrendered to a narrow 1-0 home defeat to Hebar Pazardzhik on the opening day, before falling to 3-2 defeat to Vratsa at away on Matchday 2.

They therefore head into the fixture in low spirits, although, Botev are traditionally strong on their home turf thanks to a vibrant home support and we expect to see such a showing on Wednesday. They will need to be on top of their game though.

Meanwhile APOEL Nicosia also finished third in the Cypriot Championship, which saw them book a spot in the second round of the Conference League qualifiers.

The Cypriot Championship is yet to kickoff for the 2022/23 season thus, APOEL have been preparing for the clash with pre-season friendlies and so far they have played four warm-up fixtures, where they have won one and drawn three.

They are coming off a 2-2 draw with AEK Larnaca, but given their experience in the European competitions we believe that they are more than able to bounce back on Wednesday. They will be aware of the danger their hosts possess, but their impressive attacking and defensive playing pattern has won them a number of battles in the past.