Trabzonspor have started the new season with three straight victories and will hope to continue the winning streak on Tuesday in a Champions League qualifier against FC Copenhagen.
Bookmaker William Hill has the Turkish champions as outsiders for the clash offering odds at 3.60 for an away win. The odds are at 2.10 for Copenhagen to win and at 3.25 for the draw.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 15th, 8:00 A.M. (EST)
Tuesday’s action marks the start of the final qualifying round and Trabzonspor will try to make it to the Champions League group stage for only the second time in club history. Their debut campaign came back in 2011-12.
The Black Sea Storm is on the up again after ending a 38-year title drought last season. The team suffered just three losses all season and put together outstanding numbers at both ends of the pitch with 68 goals scored and only 36 conceded.
Abdullah Avcı’s men have also started the new season in impressive fashion winning all of their games with a combined score of 9-0. Copenhagen might be the favorites on Tuesday, but they certainly can’t expect an easy time on the pitch.
There’s potential for an intriguing story in the match-up as the Trabzonspor attack is led by Copenhagen-born Andreas Cornelius. The Denmark international started his career at FC Copenhagen and he scored over 60 goals for the team during his time at the club.
Cornelius has turned into a journeyman during the latter half of his career, but he’s played in three of the top five leagues in Europe and he also proved his quality again last season by netting a team-high 15 goals in the Turkish Süper Lig. He’s off to a great start in 2022-23 as well with three goals in three games.
Copenhagen will hope to get back to the group stage for the fifth time in club history and for the first time since the 2016-17 season. The Lions won their 14th Danish championship last season and they will now try to carry the success over to the European stage although the start of the season has been far from promising for Copenhagen.
Jess Thorup has seen his team beaten already three times in the first five league outings of the campaign. Copenhagen took just four losses during the whole of 2021-22, so there’s been a huge drop in the performance level. The defense in particular has been very poor so far with the team conceding two goals per game. An imminent improvement is needed against Cornelius and his crew.
