Our prediction for this Europa Conference League match:
All eyes will be on Ghelamco Arena when Gent and Valerenga face each other in the Europa Conference League round 2 derby. Gent did well to beat Ligue 1 champions Lille in their last warm-up game, but the match against Valerenga will be anything but a walk in the park for the hosts. The club chiefs did well to keep hold of key attacker Roman Yaremchuk, who is likely to prove a handful for the opposition back-line.
Valerenga, on the other hand, have already started the new domestic campaign, with the team sitting in 5th position in the standings. The Pride of Oslo are likely to stick to their attacking style of play, and given Gent’s attacking potential, we believe that there is a big value in betting on over 2.5 goals. Iceland international Vidar Orn Kjartansson remains on the sidelines through injury for the visiting team.
Highlighted Player (Michael Ngadeu Ngadjui):
Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui is a Cameroon international who plays for Slavia Prague as a defender. Ngadjui started his career at the youth team of Diables Rouges Maroua and in 2007 he moved to Canon Yaounde. The 190-cm tall footballer continued playing for Diables Rouges Maroua at senior level and in 2010 he joined German lower-league side Kirchhorder SC.
At the end of the 2010/2011 he moved to fellow German club SV Sandhausen II and in 2012 he signed a contract with Nurnberg. After making 54 appearances for the reserve team he moved to Romania, signing a deal with Botosani. Michal Ngadeu Ngadjui scored seven goals in 53 league games for the Romanian side before joining Slavia Prague in 2016.
The Cameroonian footballer, who was born in Bafang on November 23, 1990, won the national championship with Slavia Prague in the 2016/2017, but the capital club eventually failed to make it to the Champions League group stages. His main position is centre back, but he is used as a defensive midfielder as well.
Highlighted Team (Gent):
Gent are a Belgian football club that plays their home games at Ghelamco Arena. The venue has been the club’s home ground since 2013 and the capacity of the stadium is 20 000. De Buffalo’s participate in the Belgian Pro League and they clinched their first domestic trophy in the 2014/2015 season.
Gent finished the regular part of the season in second place in the standings, but they eventually climbed to the top position in the table in the play-off. The club won their third Belgian Cup trophy in 2010 and it has to be noted that they defeated Club Brugge in the Belgian Super Cup in 2015. Laurent Depoitre scored the winner for Gent three minutes before the final whistle.
A number of top-class players were part of the team in the past and the likes of Victor Fernandez, Johan Boskamp, Bob Peeters, Trond Sollied and Michel Preud’homme are some of notable footballers who played for Gent in the past.