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Belarusian Premier League: Three things we learned from the opening weekend
Heavyweights seeking to bounce back after shock defeats
Football fans and punters had to look to Belarus for any meaningful European top-flight football last weekend with their 2020 Premier League season kicking off on schedule.
A competition which would have registered precious little interest in any normal year is now all the rage for anyone wanting a football bet, so here are three takeaways from the opening salvos ahead of a bet on week two.
Blips for the big boys or a change in the air
Bate are the Belarusian Bayern Munich and have been for quite some time. The club from the industrial city of Borisov have been Champions League regulars for over a decade winning 13 domestic titles in a row before surprisingly surrendering their crown to Dynamo Brest last year.
The closest challengers to Bate in recent years have been Shakhtyor Soligorsk and Dinamo Minsk; indeed those three clubs have been top-four mainstays since 2014.
So there were a few eyebrows raised when all three lost their opening games at the weekend – the first time that’s happened to Bate in six years – while champions Dynamo Brest could only draw.
All four play on Saturday, all four are away from home – and all four are red-hot favourites once again.
It’s obviously far too early to suggest an end to the oligopoly but anyone who thinks underwhelming opening-weekend efforts aren’t isolated setbacks can feast on some nicely-priced outsiders second time round.
Entertainers Energetik are at it again
There was rarely a dull moment watching Energetik-BGU last season and they’ve begun their 2020 campaign as though nothing’s changed.
The Students were 10-1 shots to beat Bate on the opening day and stunned the title favourites 3-1, built on a first-half brace from Uzbek newboy Jasurbek Yakhshiboev.
Energetik boasted the league’s worst defence in 2019 – 66 conceded – but only the top three scored more than their tally of 49. Twenty-one of their 29 completed games copped for over 2.5 backers.
They registered 121 attacks against Bate which was more than any other side in the opening round – apart from their opponents, who registered 175.
It looks like it’s going to be fun watching Vladimir Belyavsky’s men in 2020.
Belshina blunted by big gun departures
Belshina Bobruisk stormed to the First Division title last season scoring 74 goals and playing some superb football.
However, confidence going into a top-flight campaign would have ebbed away over the winter on the back of the departures of their three top scorers, Aleksandr Yushkin, Andrey Lyasyuk and Ilya Kukharchik. Between them that trio banged in 59.5 percent of Belshina’s goals.
Well-travelled 33-year-old Leonid Kovel was drafted in and scored seven minutes into his debut on Sunday against FC Minsk, the team he left in January.
However, it was Minsk who hit back to win 3-1 with Belshina registering just six shots.
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