Wayne Routledge starred for Swansea in their 5-1 victory over Petrolul Ploiesti on Thursday evening.
Last year’s League Cup winners ran out with a comfortable scoreline in their favour at the Liberty Stadium but will have to finish the job off next week in Romania for the second leg in order to qualify for the main draw of the competition.
The football betting suggests that is all but a formality after Routledge scored twice in the opening 25 minutes to help his side establish a 3-0 lead at the break. There were also goals from Michu, Alejandro Pozuelo, while Peterson Pecanha put the ball into his own net in the second half of the tie to add to the misery for Ploiesta.
The Swans bounced back well to their 4-1 defeat against Manchester United on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
Routledge started their scoring on 14 minutes when he curled the ball home to give his side the lead. Michu then doubled Swansea’s advantage not long after when he was on the end of Jonjo Shelvey’s free-kick, before Routledge headed his second of the match a couple of minutes later.
The home side received a helping hand in their fourth goal of the game. Michu did all the hard work down the left wing and crossed for Wilfried Bony who’s shot was deflected into his own goal by the visitor’s ‘keeper Grozav.
Substitute Pozuelo came off the bench to add his name to the scoresheet just as he did against Malmo in the previous round, but there was a late consolation for Ploiesti with Gheorghe Grozav’s late goal.
The Romanian side will have it all to do in the second leg next week if they are to overcome the deficit as punters who bet on football are backing another convincing Swans victory.
