Cherno More meets Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the 1/4 finals of the Bethub Pro Cup, and the bet is a place among the four best teams in the new Bulgarian football tournament. The match of "Ticha" is today at 18:30 at the "Ticha" stadium in Varna and will be broadcast live on DIEMA SPORT, and at Gong.bg we will follow all the most interesting from the match. The main referee of the match will be Martin Markov, and Mariyan Grebencharski will be responsible for the VAR system.
The two teams know each other very well from their clashes in the elite, but now they have no right to make a mistake. In the competition, the winner is decided in one match, and in the event of a draw in regular time, there is no extra time, but a penalty shootout.
Plovdiv will have to deal with several absent players. Efe Ali, Sevi Idriz, Alexander Alexandrov, Enzo Espinosa and Martin Ruskov will miss the away game in Varna due to injuries. The five absences limit the coaching staff's options when choosing the lineup and making substitutions during the match.
Nevertheless, the “Smurfs“ have reason to approach the match with confidence. In September, they defeated Cherno More 1:0 at “Lauta“, with Ryan Leighton scoring the only goal in the 21st minute. Thus, the Plovdiv team has already shown that they can seriously hinder the Varna team.
Cherno More gets the opportunity to use the advantage of its own stadium, where it will seek a path to the semifinals. For the Varna team, the key will be to impose its rhythm, to be aggressive enough in single combat and to effectively use the opportunities in front of the opponent's goal.
The hosts must also find a way to overcome the resistance of an opponent who in recent direct meetings has demonstrated that he can make the matches between them equal and low-scoring. Therefore, patience and concentration in defense will probably be among the most important factors for the final outcome.