Apoel Nikosia – Borussia Dortmund PREDICTION (17.10.2017)

Current form APOEL Nicosia
All experts, including us, have foretold the Cypriot champions from the capital a heavy CL group stage. These impressions have been confirmed on the first two games in group H absolutely. Nicosia has not only made a single point in Group H, but he is still waiting for the first goal in this year’s royal class. Accordingly, the problem of Georgios Donis’ team is mainly in the game. It was clear in the previous games against Real Madrid (0: 3) and Tottenham Hotspur (0: 3) that Nicosia is not used to the tempo, which is the order of the day in the Champions League. In addition, with unintended instability in standard situations life was also difficult. Against Real, for example, two out of three goals resulted from a dormant ball. We see weaknesses in comparison with the opponents in the Cypriots especially in the passport. It is not for nothing that the Donis elite mainly acts with high balls, evidently because Igor de Camargo is one of the players of the entire Champions League who has the most air duels. Here we see the Dortmund-based possibilities for Nicosia, which are more focused on the technical note. The fact that the homeowners will also be involved in defensive tasks on Tuesday is shown by the fact that already in the duels with Real and Tottenham Keeper Boy Waterman was one of the players who could record the most ball contacts. In addition, international efficiency often lacks efficiency. In London, for example, the Cypriots gave only one shot less (3) than Tottenham (4), but there was a clear difference in the final qualification. Bitter: Georgios Efrem will be an important offensive player on Tuesday. APOEL was able to gain self-confidence in the championship. At the weekend, they were still 2-0 up against Katrokopias, also at home, thanks to a 1-0 win over Oroklini for more than 180 league minutes without a match.

Current Form Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund are hoping that the previous season will be the opposite of 90 minutes on Tuesday. Why? So far the black-youngsters were successful in the league, but could not score in the royal class yet. Accordingly, the 2: 3 defeat against RB Leipzig last Saturday could be a good omen. Even without such assumptions, however, it is clear that BVB must win in Cyprus in order to remain in the race for second place. The favorites role of the Germans is also clear. The team of Peter Bosz is in this season like hardly another for fast changeover, temporeiches game over the wings and overall enormously dynamic appearances. Probably the biggest plus of the team. It is questionable how the very young Dortmunder Elf can deal with this pressure situation. One problem that we see at Dortmund is the lack of efficiency of the Plan B. Against Leipzig, for example, the rapid switch-over was somewhat hindered, one dominated in terms of possession of the ball, but found hardly any solutions in the controlled game construction. Accordingly, on Tuesday, you will again have to rely on tried and tested virtues – namely, Tempofußball. Above all, with a lot of play-offs in the interfaces or in the depth to be expected, one has with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang one of the fastest players in Europe in the attack available. The Gabonese continues to be in top form, against Leipzig was the best man on the court. In addition, the devastating balance of the opponent against German teams could help. APOEL played 16 times against teams from the country of the current world champion, conceding 14 defeats. Strengths in the Dortmund game are seen above all on the left side. Against Leipzig, Maximilian Philipp caused a lot of business here, but on the other hand, there was little on the right. Also defensively we could recognize in the duel with the Saxons the right side as weakness. Jeremy Toljan did not get his best day, especially with the goal 1: 2, he was much too easy. BVB also faced problems with standard situations, where a robust team like APOEL has to show a clear improvement.

PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1.22

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