The UEFA Champions League 2011 matchday 3 football action will begin with CSKA Moscow vs Trabzonspor on Tuesday with both teams liking their chances of advancing after the collapse of pre-campaign group favorites Inter Milan. It will be the first time the two sides meet, but CSKA Moscow have had much success against Turkish teams in the past, beating Besiktas in both matches in last year’s campaign.
Trabzonspor have been the surprise team in the Champions League this year as they lead their group despite having replaced Fenerbahce at the last second due to Turkish match fixing allegations
CSKA Moscow vs Trabzonspor
CSKA Moscow Team News
CSKA have drawn their last 2 matches since a 3-2 loss to Inter in the Champions LEague, which has seen them drop to second place in the Russian league behind Zenit. Injuries to Igor Akinfeevz, Tomas Necid, Mark Gonzalez, and Keisuke Honda will be a point of concern for manager Leonid Stutsky but at least he will be reunited with Nababkin, Aldonin, and Berezutski who missed last weekend’s match against Terek Grozny. CSKA let a 2-0 lead slip away against their opponents from Groznyi on Saturday and will need to be on their toes against a Turkish side which have proved to be effective in counter-attack football.
Trabzonspor Team News
In a stretch of thirteen months Trabzonspor have only lost to Istanbul top sides Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Istanbul BB and the away match to Benfica in this year’s Champions League qualifiers. Their form is truly stunning and looking at it from that perspective it’s unfair to call their 4 points from their first two ever Champions League matches as a shocker. They have lost many players in the offseason to their richer Istanbul rivals and have had to play their Champions League matches without Turkish star striker Burak Yilmaz who will be serving the last day of his suspension. Manager Senol Gunes has a history of leading underdogs far into tournaments, as demonstrated by Turkey’s 3rd place finish in the 2002 World Cup. Trabzon came back from 2-1 down to win 3-2 against Ankaragucu on Friday and were also able to equalize despite going behind against Lille – so don’t expect them to go down easily at the tough Olympic Stadium in Moscow.
For those planning to bet on CSKA Moscow v Trabzonspor, odds place the home side as 8/13 favorites while the Turkish visitors are a whopping 5/1 underdogs. Our CSKA Moscow vs Trabzonspor prediction is for the draw however as the Turkish club will surely come out conservatively as they did in their away match against Inter Milan – you can bet on the draw at an attractive 11/4 on Bet365.
Tune in at 17:00 BST to Sky Sports HD4 to watch CSKA Moscow vs Trabzonspor live in the early kickoff match on Tuesday. Let us know your CSKA v Trabzonspor score prediction in the comments below.
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