Republic of Ireland vs Bulgaria Prediction, Preview & Betting Tips

Ireland enter their Nations League clash with Bulgaria as firm favourites as they have won three of their last five matches, while Bulgaria have only won one of their most recent five matches.

The Boys in Green were dominant in their 2-1 away win in the first leg, as they took 11 shots to Bulgaria’s seven and will now have home advantage. Bulgaria have not beaten the Republic of Ireland since April 1987, meaning that Ireland are unbeaten in their last unbeaten in their last eighth head-to-head encounters with Bulgaria.

During each of the Republic of Ireland’s most recent three victories, they have won via a one goal margin, we expect this game to be another close encounter, but, with Ireland winning 2-0 on this occasion.

Prediction: Republic of Ireland 2-0 Bulgaria

On Sunday, 23rd March, Ireland hosts Bulgaria at the Aviva Stadium in what could be a tense Nations League second leg.

Date: 23/03/2025

Location: Aviva Stadium

Time: 7:45pm

Ireland enter this second leg with a slender one goal advantage, as goals by Finn Azaz and Matt Doherty turned the game around after Marin Petkov gave Bulgaria a sixth-minute lead. That victory was Heimir Hallgrimsson’s third win as manager of the Boys in Green.

Interestingly, Ireland have only beaten two sides under Hallgrimsson’s management, as they were beaten twice by both Greece and England in League B Group 2, with all six of their points coming at the expense of Finland, having won 2-1 in Helsinki thanks to a late winner from Robbie Brady, while in Ireland Evan Ferguson scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory.

On the other hand, Bulgaria finished second in League C Group 3 with nine points from six matches, having won two, drawn three and lost one, while scoring just three times and conceding six. Staggeringly, of those six goals, Bulgaria conceded five of them in a heavy 5-0 defeat to Northern Ireland on 15th October.

Republic of Ireland’s clash with Bulgaria will be broadcast live on Amazon Prime Video.

Republic of Ireland

Predicted line-up: Kelleher; Doherty, Collins, O'Shea, Brady; Cullen, Knight; Johnston, Azaz, Manning; Ferguson.

Bulgaria

Predicted line-up: P. Iliev; Nedyalkov, Atanasov, A. Petkov, Nurnberger; M. Petkov, Kraev, Gruev, Krastev, Despodov; L. Petkov.

Republic of Ireland

As previously mentioned, the Republic of Ireland have won three of their last five matches in the Nations league.

The Boys in Green managed to beat Finland (2-1 & 1-0), with Liam Scales and Robbie Brady scoring in the away fixture, while West Ham United loanee Evan Ferguson scored the only goal of the game in Dublin. Their most recent victory was the 2-1 first leg win in Bulgaria.

Ireland’s two defeats both came away from home as they were beaten 2-0 in Greece, while being thrashed 5-0 by England at Wembley Stadium.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria have won just one of their last five matches, with that sole victory coming against Luxembourg on 15th November as Andrian Kraev scored the only goal of the game.

Prior to that game, Bulgaria had suffered a 5-0 defeat to Northern Ireland after a 0-0 draw with Luxembourg, while since then, they have drawn 1-1 with Belarus and suffered a 2-1 loss to the Republic of Ireland.

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