Tight fight at Friends Arena
Slovenian champs Maribor travel to Stockholm (a little outside of Stockholm to be precise) to face off against Swedish champions AIK at Friends Arena in the qualification stages of this years Champions League. The first leg ended 2-1 to Maribor which leaves this leg wide open. Will AIK be able to turn it around or will Maribor hold on tight?
AIK
The team from Solna (just outside of Stockholm) did well in grabbing an incredibly important away goal in their 2-1 loss after being outplayed for large parts of the game meaning that they still have a large chance of advancing to the next round, kudos to them.
AIK boast a very strong home record and are currently on a 4 game winning streak at Friends Arena while having only suffered 1 home defeat this whole season which will definitely have them feeling confident before home games, no matter the opponent.
Another indicator that they have good chances of advancing is the fact that they have a very talented, experienced squad with players like Sebastian Larsson, Tarik Elyounoussi and a couple of others representing their respective national teams whilst also having played at a much higher level.
Friends Arena is not an easy place to travel to so expect AIK to take full advantage of that.
Maribor
Slovenian outfit Maribor is the most successful team in Slovenia's history and managed to reach the Champions League group stages back in 2014/15, they are also Europa League regulars, sort of, and will definitely fancy their chances of advancing to the next round after having won the fist leg of this fight.
A cause for worry is however that the current champions have started their domestic season in what is by their standards simply horrible. 2 draws and a defeat is not exactly inspiring, especially given that their opening game at home against last years 8th placed team ended in a 1-2 defeat which will definitely have them worried about travelling to Sweden to face a better team.
Another negative aspect for the Slovenian's is that their domestic league has just begun, 3 games in to be precise whilst Sweden's Allsvenskan has been going on since early April which means that they have had more time to gel and come together as a team.
Betting tip
Due to AIK's home form and a few other aspects i really like the way AIK draw no bet at 47/100 with Bethard is looking.
Those looking for higher risk higher reward could give AIK to win at 21/20 a punt.
