Betting Tip
Ararat-Armenia went through with a one-goal cushion, while Celje had to play extra time and then a penalty shootout. There is no clear favourite here either, although a slight advantage is ultimately given to the Slovenian team.
Ararat-Armenia reached the third qualifying round of the Champions League again thanks to their home match, where the margin (+2) was enough to ensure even defeat in Dublin did not prove fatal. Although it was very close. Alexandros Malis's mistake put Ararat-Armenia on the brink: the goalkeeper tried to salvage the situation, but there were enough Shamrock Rovers attackers to roll the second goal into an empty net. If the Armenian champions make such unforced errors at home as well, they will have no chance in this tie. Tulipa's side also beat Riga 2:0 to nil in the first round, but there are doubts about Ararat-Armenia's reliability, as they began their domestic league campaign with a win, but certainly not a clean one — 4:3 against Gandzasar.
Celje produced something similar to the match against Gandzasar in the first leg of the second round against Egnatia — 3:3. There were only 12 shots on target between the two sides, most of them for the Albanian team (nine). In other words, it turns out the visitors had 100% accuracy. In last season's European campaign, the Counts also put on a show both away and at home: in six of nine away matches they scored at least two, while Over 2.5 goals landed at home in the same ratio (6/9). The team do not sit back and try to entertain their fans, as they did under Albert Riera last season and as they are doing under Vitor Campelos now.
So the open nature of the game and the imperfect defending from the hosts should lead to a high-scoring match, where the winner is hard to predict, unlike the number of goals. There will be more than two.