Betting Tip
The draw in the first game was priced at 3.50, but Panevezys got it all the same. If the match had stopped in the 80th minute, the hosts would actually have won. So average odds of 1.26 on a Tobol win are still no guarantee that it will happen.
Tobol essentially let victory slip in the first game. It was not only the 17 shots, six of them on target, and their assured possession, but the fact that before the 84th-minute goal from a free-kick routine, Askhat Tagybergen missed a penalty in the 60th minute after a foul on Islam Chesnokov. In open play, the Kostanay side did not create chances that were quite as dangerous, although they had plenty of shots. They will again be hoping for Chesnokov, who still has not scored since returning but is proving useful, as he did against Panevezys. It is hardly his fault that his team-mate failed to score.
Despite the draw in the first game, there is virtually no belief that Panevezys will go through. At some bookmakers, the odds on that have gone above 6.0. Are they really that poor away from home? In previous seasons there have been heavy defeats in European competition, such as against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2024/25 Europa League, but for the most part at least the handicap (+1.5) has landed — in five of the other seven matches in the 2020s. The Lithuanian side scored their goal very neatly: not only did goalscorer Seydina Keita react superbly from the corner, but Nauris Petkevicius' backheel pass before that was worth plenty too. The visitors will have chances, at least on the counter — they use the pace of their African imports.
In five July matches, Tobol's players have scored more than one goal in a match only once, so it is possible to hope that this will be a convincing handicap win, but in practice that is hard to achieve. Panevezys' plus handicap is a much better fit here, as they will scrap for a place in the next round.