Rosenborg v Dundalk - Champions League qualifier

Published on July 17th, 2017 11:48 am EST
Written By: Cian Murray
Rosenborg BK captain - Mike Jensen - In action. The beautiful thing about the early rounds of the Champions League is that there is money to be made - bookmakers don't necessarily know the teams that are involved and very often the price doesn't reflect the chances of both sides.

One such case is this Wednesday's game between Rosenborg and Dundalk. In this game, the home side are massive favorites at a price of 2/5. Meanwhile, their Irish counterparts, Dundalk, are priced at 7/1.

Anyone who saw the first-leg encounter between the two sides would know that the price for Dundalk should be much smaller than that - they dominated the opening game and were unlucky to only take a draw out of Ireland.

Of course, you can back them to get the same result in Norway at a price of 10/3. Hear us out first though, as we think we can make a case for backing the 7/1 outsiders.

Dundalk have pedigree at this level after overcoming the likes of Bate Borisov at this stage of the competition last season. Bate are a side that were competing and beating the very best in the Champions League the year previously and Dundalk managed to knock them out to reach last season's group stages.

Dundalk also have an excellent manager in Stephen Kenny - many are tipping him to go onto greater things in either England, or as Ireland's next national team manager. He has nurtured and developed players at Dundalk who have gone onto play at a much higher level in England.

Also, if you look at last week's game in Ireland, Dundalk dominated for large periods and they also looked incredibly dangerous going forward. It was an unlucky goal just before half-time which prevented them reorganizing with a lead at the break.

They are a good footballing side, that know how to get by sides who are better on paper. Their wins in the early stage of last season's competition prove that.

If you don't want to trust us on our tip for Dundalk to win, that is fair enough - hedge your bets. The Irish side are priced at around 4/1 to qualify via any means. Of course, some of you will want to back the side that boast the likes of Arsenal reject Nicolas Bentnet - if so, you can lump your money on Rosenborg to qualify at a price of 1/6.

It's totally fine if you that - but would you not rather believe in the magic of underdogs in sport?

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