24th Aug 2011 | Football
Europa League Play-offs: Birmingham v Nacional
The Blues were by far the better team in the away leg and should prove their superiority back in England
Thursday’s Europa League action involves a plethora of matches that are tough to predict. Celtic and Rangers have ties in the balance and the more I look at the statistics and team news, the more they look too close to call. Then there are the games like Spurs v Hearts where both teams will be going through the motions after the 5-0 result in Edinburgh; not a good time to be staking money. The one match that stands out as a good punt is Birmingham to win at home to FC Nacional at generous odds of 6/5 with Totesport.
The Championship side were comfortably the better team in the first match where they secured a 0-0 draw away in Portugal. The Blues struck the woodwork on no less than three occasions with on loan striker Chris Wood proving particularly hard to handle. The West Brom loanee hit the frame of the goal twice and fired another effort right across the face of goal. With a big crowd expected at St Andrews for the first major European game in 49 years, Birmingham should progress with relative ease.
Odds correct at time of publishing: 17:02 24th Aug, 2011 but subject to change
