UEFA Champions League: Rapid Vienna vs. Sparta Prague Betting Preview, Odds, Prediction

Rapid Vienna and Sparta Prague clash in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers this Tuesday. These two teams have a very long respective history and are one of the most important on the European continent. Both are 100+years old, and deserve to be respected. That is why we decided to make a preview of their matchup at Allianz Stadium in Vienna. Rapid was second last year in the Austrian Bundesliga, behind Red Bull Salzburg, while Sparta ended behind their fiercest rivals, Slavia Prague.

Preview

Rapid Vienna (+140) won against Wiener Viktoria in the first round of the Austrian Cup last weekend, beating the rivals with a convincing 6-0. Though, we need to add that Viktoria had one player fewer on the field after 29 minutes of play. On the other hand, coach Dietmar Kuhbauer can be satisfied with the fact that six different players scored goals for his team.

Apart from the first friendly match against Wiener Sport-Club, Rapid didn’t lose a single one, and after that one, they went on to post six games in a row without a defeat. During the preparation period, the most difficult rivals were Lokomotiv Moscow, 0-0, St. Polten, 2-2, and FC Copenhagen, which was the final test before the competitive part of the campaign, 1-0.

Overall, Rapid likes to play open and offensive football, and the majority of their matches during the previous season ended with at least three goals, and both sides netting as well.

Sparta Prague (+180) is also one very efficient crew, whose games are filled with excitement and goals. For instance, the previous four friendly contests saw at least four goals, three of them even five. Also, all of them saw both teams hitting the back of the net.

Like their big rival, Slavia, Sparta was extremely efficient, and one of the main reasons for that was, and still is, Adam Hlozek, arguably the biggest talent of the Czech football and one of the biggest talents in the striker position on the continent.

He would win the Czech Golden Boot, despite missing 15 matches of the campaign, netting 15 goals, and racking up 8 assists.

Latest News

A big blow for the hosts is the recent departure of the wunderkind forward, Yusuf Demir, to Barcelona. This guy is maybe the most underrated teenager in Europe, and be sure that pretty soon, you’ll hear his name often. On the other side, Kevin Wimmer, a veteran center-back, arrived from Stoke City.

Benjamin Tetteh, Libor Kozak, and Srdjan Plavsic all left Sparta, which is also a very massive minus for the team, but Pavel Vrba should have proper replacements.

Head to Head Games

The last clash was in 2011, a friendly one, and Sparta won 2-0. Before that, Rapid and Sparta met for the last time before World War II.

Prediction

There isn’t a better pick here but over 2.5 goals. Both teams like to play open and aggressive football, which is why we recommend betting on high efficiency. The odds of our pick are -120, which is great, and we simply need to go after them. By adding both teams to score on top of that, the profit is even higher, -105.

Here are the previews for more UCL qualifying matches:

• PSV vs. Galatasaray
• Celtic vs. Midtjylland