Dila vs APOEL Prediction: Will the representative of the Erovnuli League be able to cope with a strong opponent?

Dila has passed two rounds of European Cup qualification. The third opponent of the Georgian team will be quite famous in Europe, the Cypriot APOEL. Will the representative of the Erovnuli League be able to cope with a strong opponent in the first home game?

The 2022 Georgian Championship bronze medalist faced Slovakian club Dunajska Streda in the first round of the Conference League qualification. In the first away game, Dila lost 1:2, but in the return, home game managed not only to get one goal back but also won with a difference of two - 2:0. In the second round, Dila met Viktor Skrypnyk's Vorskla. Both matches with Poltava turned out to be effective, and the scenario was the same as in the first round - a 1:2 defeat for the Georgian club and a 3:1 victory in the return leg. Ukrainian forward Mykola Kovtalyuk, who scored three goals in four European Cup matches, should be named the main hero of Dila.

The team is in fifth place in the Georgian championship after 19 rounds but only four points behind the second place. Dila has conceded only 17 goals in 19 matches - the least in the Erovnuli League 2023.

The Cypriots are very familiar to football fans from reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League a dozen years ago. After those memorable events, APOEL has repeatedly reached the group stages of European Cups, so the Cypriot club has plenty of experience.

The matches against Serbian Vojvodina in the second qualifying round of the current qualification confirm this thesis. APOEL beat the Serbs 2:1 at home and away. Georgian forward Giorgi Kvilitaya, Georgian defender Lasha Dvali, Ghanaian Kingsley Sarfo, and Cypriot Giorgos Efrem scored for the team of Portuguese specialist Ricardo Sa Pinto.

Dila lost in the initial meetings of both qualification rounds held with the score 1:2. And although both times the Georgian team played not on their field, such a score in the upcoming game is also quite probable. APOEL has twice managed 2:1 against Vojvodina and generally looks like a stronger team than Dila. The club from Georgia has rarely made it to the European cups, while for APOEL to qualify is already common. Also note that in last season's Cypriot championship, the team only lost three points to Aris, who recently scored 15 in two games to Belarus' BATE.

We bet on APOEL and also expect not the most productive meeting. The Cypriots will not force things on the road, and Dila has conceded only nine goals on their home field in 11 matches this season, including the Georgian League and the Conference League.