In view of a weekend without a championship, this week the national teams will play and will return to the field to play the Nations League but this time in a particular version, that is, not the canonical one of the groups but that of the play-offs to determine which teams will go (or remain) in the Nations League B and which in the Nations League C. On Thursday evening, for the first leg of one of these "finals", Bulgaria and Ireland will clash at the Hristo Botev stadium in Plovdiv: it will be the first round before the return on Sunday at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Bulgaria finished in second place in their group in League C while Ireland in third in League B. Of the two placings, the most disappointing, paradoxically, was the second for Bulgaria, considering that in the same group as Ilian Iliev's men there were Northern Ireland, Belarus and Luxembourg, therefore, thinking of the first was certainly not a utopia. More meritorious, perhaps, is the third place of Ireland that, in front of England and Greece, did not hold up, finishing, however, in front of Finland. In these two games of March, there will be the synthesis of the tournaments of the two teams and also a bit of the future in anticipation of the next commitments.

Bulgaria's Shape and Key Stats.

Bulgaria finished their Nations League group in second place with 9 points, the result of 2 wins, 3 draws and only 1 defeat, albeit a resounding one (the 5-0 suffered by Northern Ireland).

In these 6 matches, Bulgaria scored very little, only 3 goals: an average not very exciting of 1 every 2 games.

In the Summer of 2024, Bulgaria had not qualified for the European Championships but had played two friendlies without losing. Overall, Bulgaria has lost only 1 of the last 12 matches.

Irelan's Shape and Key Stats

The latest snapshot of Ireland will not please the green supporters but it is that of a five-goal defeat by England on November 17: 5-0 at Wembley.

However, Ireland's path should not be judged by that match, having only won 2 of the 6 group matches to finish in third place.

In general, Heinir Hallgrimsson's national team has only scored in those 2 matches against Finland in the last 7 matches, therefore, there may be an offensive problem.

Bulgaria vs Ireland Prediction and Tactical Analysis

There does not seem to be, at least in this first leg, a clear favorite of the contest and, the fact that the last two precedents between the two national teams, always in the Nations League, ended with two draws (1-1 and 0-0) does not help to imagine the outcome of the match. In general, Bulgaria, even at home and against teams that are not excellent, often did not make the home advantage count, therefore, Ireland, already forged by other matches, seems more ready to attack the match and win it: Finland, already beaten two times out of two in the Nations League, seems to be worth at least Bulgaria, therefore, the prediction of the BetMines algorithm goes on the privateer success of Ireland.

• BetMines algorithm prediction for Bulgaria vs Ireland predicts 1 at 27%
• BetMines algorithm prediction for Bulgaria vs Ireland predicts X at 29%
• BetMines algorithm prediction for Bulgaria vs Ireland predicts 2 at 44%

Bulgaria vs Ireland Predicted Lineups

Bulgaria (4-4-2): Mitov; Popov, Petkov, Petrov, Atanasov; Minkov, Panayotov, Kraev, Krastev; Milanov, Kolev. Coach: Iliev.

Ireland (4-4-2): Kelleher; O’Shea, Mcguinness, Collins, O’Dowda; Manning, Cullen, Moran, Parrott; Szmodics, Ferguson. Coach: Hallgrimsson.