Real Sociedad – Sheriff Tiraspol : Preview & Prediction
Four days after boosting themselves in their fight for European places in LaLiga Santander with a 1-0 win over Villarreal, Real Sociedad are looking for a fourth consecutive win in the UEFA Europa League (UEL) group stage, three points that could seal the Txuri-urdin side’s passage to the next round.
“We played a great game from minute one,” said Real coach Imanol Alguacil after the important win over the Yellow Submarine. The Blue and Whites have now won five games in all competitions, and Alguacil, who played more than 100 games as a full-back for Real, will be pleased that his players have kept two clean sheets in their last two games, one of them against Thursday’s opponents. The coach acknowledged that his team felt the accumulated fatigue against Villarreal, but Real are showing great solidity despite the tight schedule and will be looking for three matches without conceding a goal against Sheriff Tiraspol.
Champions of Moldova, Sheriff did not seem to be a great threat to Real Sociedad and Manchester United at the beginning of the competition in Group E despite the fact that in the last Champions League they caused a big surprise by defeating Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. After stringing together two 2-0 defeats against the favorites in their group, Sheriff is obliged to score in their two most difficult outings in order not to be eliminated in the group stage of a UEFA competition for the sixth time in a row.
With their 3-0 away win over Omonia on matchday 1, Sheriff broke a seven-game winless streak in UEFA competitions (E4, P3 including qualifiers), and the Moldavian side will have to do well to avenge their 2-0 defeat to Real last week. The aforementioned win at Omonia was Sheriff’s only win in the last seven matches in which they have been underdogs (G1, E1, P5).
Players to watch: midfielder Martin Zubimendi, starter in the victory over Villarreal and wanted by FC Barcelona, recently expressed his desire to extend his contract with Real. Sheriff is expecting the best version of Mouhamed Diop, who in September scored in two consecutive wins over Omonia and Dacia Buiucani.
Noteworthy series: only one team or no team has scored in the last eight official matches of Sheriff Tiraspol.
Real Sociedad – Sheriff Tiraspol : Betting Tips
OVER 3.5 GOALS Odds: 2.25
