Our prediction for this Champions League match:
Astana
Match Time & Date:
12/07/2023
16:00
Prediction: 2-1
Dinamo Tbilisi
Astana and Dinamo Tbilisi face each other at Astana Arena in the opening match of Wednesday’s program. Astana aim to recover from a heart-breaking Kazakhstan Cup defeat to Ordabasy and we are positive that they will go all guns blazing at Dinamo Tbilisi. The good news for the hosts is that defender Varazdat Haroyan has overcome his injury.
The Georgians, on the other hand, did well to beat Dinamo Batumi in the Super Cup final, but they will have a much-bigger fish to fry in Kazakhstan. Given the number of quality internationals in the home side, we predict that Giorgi Tchiabrishvili’s troops are going to return to Tbilisi empty-handed. Both Lakvekheliani and Maisuradze are pushing for a start after the duo came off the bench in the Super Cup triumph. This will be the first meeting between the two clubs in European competitions.
Highlighted Team (Astana):
Astana are a Kazakh football club which was founded in 2009. The Blue and Yellows won their first domestic trophy in 2014, with the team finishing the regular part of the season in third place in the standings. However, thanks to their brilliant displays in the Championship round Astana won the national championship.
The big-spending Kazakh club have always been attracting high-profile footballers from Russia and Ukraine and it has to be noted that the likes of Yegor Titov, Andrey Tikhonov and Maksim Shatshikh played for the Blue and Yellows in the past. Nowadays Astana are considered the best football club in Kazakhstan and you should bear in mind that they won their third consecutive league title in 2016.
However, participating in the 2015/2016 Champions League group stages is considered the club’s biggest success. Astana faced the likes of Benfica, Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray in Group C and they collected 4 points from possible 18 in the process. It has to be noted that they shared the spoils with Diego Simeone’s men at their Astana Arena.
