Prediction: Celje vs Flora

Verdict: Total home goals over 2.5

Best odds: 5/6

Bookmaker: Olympusbet

Celje and Flora will face off in the second leg of their Champions League first-round qualifying tie on Tuesday, with the hosts enjoying a significant lead.

Grofje netted five goals at the Lillekula Stadium last week and are just 90 minutes away from advancing to face either Slovan Bratislava or FC Struga in the second round of qualifying.

NK Celje

Celje appeared dominant against their opponents last week, taking the lead just seven minutes into the match with a goal from Aljosa Matko.

The Slovenian champions doubled their lead within three minutes, courtesy of center-back Damir Vukicevic, and could have been further ahead by the 21st minute had Matko not missed a penalty.

However, Flora’s reprieve was short-lived as Mark Zabukovnik scored the third goal before halftime, with Rolando Aarons and Tamar Svetelin adding two more in the second half to complete the rout.

This result means Damir Krznar’s team has now found the net in 16 consecutive competitive matches across all competitions since February and are on the verge of reaching the second round of Champions League qualifying for the second time in their history.

In addition to their commanding scoreline, Grofje can draw confidence from their strong home record, having lost only one of their last nine matches at Stadion Z’dezele across all competitions.

Team News

Despite the quick turnaround from Euro 2024 with Slovenia, Zan Karnicnik started last week’s match, and Krznar had the advantage of substituting the right-back midway through the second half to keep him fresh for this game.

Summer signings Matija Kavcic and Slavko Bralic were both unused substitutes in the first leg, and the defensive duo is in line to make their debuts in this match.

Flora Tallinn

To illustrate just how difficult Flora found it in the first leg, the match stats reveal that Triibulised managed just a single shot on target and saw only 31% of possession on their home turf, without earning a single corner.

The day after the defeat, the club announced that Norbert Hurt, who replaced Jurgen Henn just last year, had stepped down as head coach, with Under-21s coach Taavi Viik taking over for the foreseeable future.

Hurt, who also served as the club’s head coach from 2013 to 2016, returned to the helm in December. Under his guidance, Flora won only half of their 20 league games this season and are already trailing Levadia by 15 points.

Barring a miraculous comeback here, Flora will drop to the Conference League qualifiers, where they will likely face Virtus, who suffered a 7-1 defeat in their first-leg qualifier against FCSB last week.

Team News

Despite getting 14 goals to his name already this season, Mark Anders Lepik was practically invisible in the first leg, and his team will need him to deliver an incredible performance if they are to stand any chance of making a comeback. An early goal wouldn’t go amiss, but that’s obviously easier said than done.

Andreas Vaher, who recently joined the club from HJK Helsinki, made his Flora debut last week. It will be interesting to see if the new head coach sends the talented 20-year-old out from the start in this match or opts to bring back Marco Lukka in the heart of defence.

Conclusion

Judging from what happened in the first leg, it doesn’t seem very likely that Flora stage any kind of a comeback in Slovenia, and considering they are the away side, the aggregate score could become worse very quickly.

While Krznar may see this as a good opportunity to give some of his fringe players playing time, we still expect the hosts to secure a comfortable victory.

Verdict: Total home goals over 2.5

Best odds: 5/6

Bookmaker: Olympusbet