Predictions & Livescore Champions League - Virtus vs FCSB

Champions League - Virtus vs FCSB
Match Time: 10-07-2024 03:00 Wednesday (GMT+8)
Football Livescore | Match Prediction & Tips
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The hosts will have been thrilled by their showings last term considering they accumulated 22 more points than they did in the 2022-23 campaign, in which they failed to qualify for the Champions League playoffs.

To add to this, during their 2023-24 title winning campaign they scored 60 goals in the top flight and conceded on 20 occasions, whereas they had netted 53 and conceded 25 times in the previous season.

Manager Luigi Bizzotto has been in charge since July 2019, and his time at Virtus can be considered extremely successful given last term marked the club's first league title win.

There was some uncertainty about whether Bizzotto would continue in his role, but it was announced in May that he had signed a contract extension until the end of the 2024-25 season and will lead the black-and-greens when they embark on their Champions League debut.

Virtus won their last seven league games as well as 13 of their last 15, keeping nine clean sheets in that period.

However, it should be noted that they did lose 4-2 on penalties most recently in the Coppa Titano against La Fiorita on May 25 after the game ended in 0-0 draw.

Opponents FCSB also came first in their regular season, accumulating 64 points from a possible 90.

They ended the regular season having scored 53 goals and conceded 28, the division's third-best offensive and best defensive records respectively.

Unlike Virtus, in order to qualify for the first round of the Champions League, the Romanian title winners also had to participate in and win an end of season championship playoff group against the rest of the league's top six sides.

The Red and Blues topped their playoff group, but their initial six-point advantage over CFR Cluj was reduced to just three by the end of the group's 10 games.

FCSB manager Elias Charalambous has been in charge since March 2023 and led his side to their first championship win since the 2014-15 season.

Including friendlies, Charalambous's team come into the clash having won their last three games in all competitions, and in that period they won Romania's Supercupa final 3-0 against Corvinul Hunedoara last Thursday in their most recent match.

Prediction: Virtus 0-3 FCSB