Champions League: Terzic Aims For European Cheer

Sevilla vs Borussia Dortmund

Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund meet at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Wednesday night as they battle for a place in the Champions League quarter finals.

With their Bundesliga hopes long gone, European competition is the best chance of success for Borussia Dortmund, while they continue to press for a top four place in their domestic league. Following the sacking of Lucien Favre in December, assistant Edin Terzic was appointed as interim head coach until the end of the 2020/21 campaign.

Die Schwarzgelben face a tough opponent on Wednesday night. Julen Lopetegui has steered Seville on a run of nine consecutive victories and the hosts are playing with supreme confidence.

Neither team is fancied to go all the way in this competition; the outright Champions League 2021 betting odds offer Dortmund at a price of 24.00 to win the tournament and Sevilla at 42.00. But both will believe they can win this tie and progress to the final eight and then…who knows?

 

Talking Points

Sevilla on fire

Los Sevillanos are having a great campaign at home as well as in Europe. A 3-0 victory over Getafe last week briefly lifted them up to third place in La Liga; and they followed that up with a single goal win over SD Huesca on Saturday to cement a top four place. Munir El Haddadi’s second half header was enough to take all three points and Lopetegui’s side is sitting pretty, seven points ahead of Real Sociedad and with a game in hand.

The La Liga side has an impressive front line. Moroccan striker Youssef En Nesyri scored four goals as Los Sevillanos finished a strong second to Chelsea in qualifying Group E, winning four matches and reaching 13 points, just one behind the Blues. Spanish forward Suso is a creative talent, while Netherlands star Luuk de Jong, at 6ft 2in is a strong presence in the air. The addition of Ivan Rakitic in midfield has added quality at the heart of the team, and central defenders Sergi Gomez and Diego Carlos are at the heat of a rock solid defence.

 

Terzic must find a way

While Sevilla are in a hot streak, inconsistency has all but put an end to die Schwarzgelben’s Bundesliga title hopes, and when Edin Terzic took over from the departed Favre he inherited a vastly talented but misfiring bunch of players. They started the season as second favourites to win the German league, but now they have an uphill task to reach the top four. BVB’s fortunes have not improved much since the change in the hot seat. A home draw with Hoffenheim on Saturday left Dortmund down in sixth place, 15 points behind leaders Bayern and six behind Wolfsburg who hold the last Champions League qualification place.

Terzic must find a way to get a tune out of this undoubtedly gifted bunch.

Erling Braut Haaland plundered six goals as BVB dominated Group F. He is the favourite to finish as tournament top scorer at odds of 5.00 here at SBOTOP, with fellow Bundesliga hit man Robert Lewandowski second favourite at odds of 5.80 and ready to pounce if BVB make an early exit.

Haaland has scored an incredible 16 goals in his first 12 Champions League appearances, the fastest player in history to reach that tally. The giant Norwegian scored at the weekend too, as did England winger Jadon Sancho, while Sancho’s countryman Jude Bellingham and young American Gio Reyna have bags of potential.

BVB have plenty of experience too, with German trio Marco Reus, Julian Brandt and Mats Hummels all used to better times, while in Belgian Thomas Meunier, Terzic has one of the best wing-backs in the business.

 

History

The two teams met in 2010 in the Europa League, when a 2-2 draw in Sevilla and a 0-1 victory at the Signal Iduna Park gave the Spaniards the upper hand; and recent form favours the hosts who, as well as winning nine on the bounce, are unbeaten in eight at home.

Dortmund have lost the last three on their travels, and won just two matches from the last six games, while the Spaniards have swept all before them in that time, without conceding a single goal.

In European competition the omens are equally gloomy for the visitors. Dortmund have won none of their last ten away games to Spanish opposition in the Champions League, while Sevilla have lost just one in 12 at home to German opposition, a 2-1 quarter final defeat at the hands of FC Bayern in the 2017/18 tournament.

 

Betting Tip

	Sevilla vs Borussia Dortmund	Over 2.50 @ 1.95
	February 18, 04:00 (GMT+8)

The Champions League 2021 updates will flow this week, with the action opening up on Tuesday, when Red Bull Leipzig meet Liverpool and Barcelona are at home to PSG. And then on Wednesday Juventus are away to Porto and we’ll be reporting on the Sevilla vs Dortmund match.

All three results are in play with Sevilla at 2.40 to win and Dortmund at 2.82 while the draw is at 3.35. The La Liga side is in great form and while BVB aren’t firing they have a serious goal threat. I can see goals from both teams and for an outside bet a Sevilla win at 2-1 is available at 8.00.

A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR () BETS ARE WORTH:
= €20 (Highly confident)	= €10 (CONFIDENT)	= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)

Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.

 

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The post Champions League: Terzic Aims For European Cheer appeared first on SBOTOP.