Celje vs Sabah Baku: Europa League Prediction (18.07.2025)

On July 18, 2025, at 01:00 WIB, the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 qualifiers between Celje and Sabah Baku will take place. The first leg featured an exciting goal-filled showdown, yet the tie remains wide open. Bookmakers consider the home team as the favorites. Let’s take a look at the current form of both teams and provide our match prediction.

Celje

The Slovenian club entered the European fixtures following a summer break — a much-needed pause after a rather disappointing domestic season. Even so, a high-scoring match was expected. In the Slovenian league, Celje is known as the most attacking team, but they also suffer from a fragile defense. So the abundance of goals in the first match didn’t come as a surprise. However, despite the one-goal advantage and home crowd support, nothing is guaranteed yet. That means Celje will enter the second leg highly motivated.

Sabah Baku

The Azerbaijani side faces a similar issue — an unstable defense. After leading 2-1 at halftime in the first leg, Sabah failed to maintain the advantage and conceded twice in the second half. Yet overall, they looked even more dangerous on the pitch. Ball possession was relatively even, but Sabah had more shots — 12 to 9 (6 to 3 on target). Furthermore, they played more composed and disciplined football, forcing Celje to commit more fouls. So, despite being considered underdogs, Sabah has a solid chance to get the result they need.

Stats and Head-to-Head Record

The teams met for the first time last week. Celje won the away leg with a score of 3-2.

Prediction

For the Celje vs Sabah Baku match, we predict in favor of the visitors. Sabah showed a highly competitive performance in the first leg. It is quite possible that the winner of this tie could be decided by a penalty shootout. In this case, we recommend betting against the favorite and placing a bet on Sabah not to lose, at odds of 1.89.