RB Salzburg vs Dinamo Zagreb predictions: Visitors underrated against struggling hosts
- Salzburg 34th in Champions League standings after two heavy losses
- Dinamo Zagreb unbeaten in their last five in all competitions
- Recommended bet: Dinamo Zagreb to score over 1.5 goals
RB Salzburg have been beaten 3-0 at Sparta Prague and 4-0 at home to Brest in their two Champions League league phase games to date, despite having more possession in both matches, with the Austrians being wasteful in front of goal.
Dinamo Zagreb could not have got off to a worse start than their 9-2 defeat at Bayern Munich, but they came close to surprising Monaco at home, with the French side batting back from two goals down to draw.
Team news
Salzburg will be without the injured Takumu Kawamura, Dorgeles Nene, Petar Ratkov and Moussa Yeo.
Dinamo Zagreb manager Nenad Bjelica will have to watch the game from the stands, as he serves a touchline suspension following his sending-off during the 2-2 draw with Monaco.
Zagreb have no injuries, with striker Bruno Petkovic available again having made a substitute appearance in the weekend’s 2-2 draw at Istra 1961.
The stats
Salzburg followed their 4-0 defeat to Brest with a 5-0 loss to fellow Champions League side Sturm Graz in the Austrian Bundesliga.
Dinamo Zagreb’s last seven games have seen 35 goals, with the Croatians scoring 16 and conceding 19.
Red Bull had 71% of the possession in their 3-0 loss to Sparta Prague, but could only manage one shot on target from 11 attempts.
No team has conceded more Champions League goals than Dinamo Zagreb’s total of 11 this season.
Prediction
It has been a very poor start for Salzburg, who recruited the former Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders as their head coach over the summer.
This struggling young team are one of only four who have yet to score in this competition and they are even off the pace at home in the Bundesliga, where they are currently fourth in the table.
They have been given a pretty kind start to their Champions League campaign, so it is a concern that they are still pointless and they simply must get a result from this match.
Yet Dinamo have shown spirit, with even their 9-2 thrashing by Bayern Munich seeing the Croats fighting back to make it 3-2 early in the second half.
With Zagreb scoring twice against sides as good as Bayern and Monaco, they look likely to cause problems for their hosts, who have conceded a lot of goals of late.
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