Club Brugge and Molde will conclude their battle for a Europa Conference League quarter-final spot on Thursday, when they meet in Belgium in the second leg of their round-of-16 tie.
The visitors travel with a slender lead to defend, having prevailed in a 2-1 win in Norway last week.
Match preview
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Club Brugge return to the Jan Breydel Stadium on Thursday aiming to overturn their Europa Conference League round-of-16 tie and advance to the final eight, having fallen late on in agonising fashion in the first leg away at Molde last time out.
That reverse fixture was the Belgian outfit's first continental action of 2024, having booked automatic entry into the knockout stage with a dominant group-stage campaign in England's tertiary competition, topping their group with 16 points from six matches.
After progressing through three rounds of qualifying to reach the group, Ronny Deila's men began with a draw against Besiktas before scoring five straight wins to take top spot, thrashing the Turkish outfit 5-0 away from home and completing doubles over Bodo/Glimt and Lugano in the process.
That set up their two-legged tie with Molde with a quarter-final place on the line, and they looked set to bring the contest back to Belgium on level terms in a 1-1 draw, as Maxim De Cuyper converted a penalty five minutes from time to pull them level, only for the hosts to go back ahead in injury time.
Now on the back of a 3-1 beating of Leuven at the weekend, with Hans Vanaken and Bjorn Meijer on the scoresheet alongside a Tobe Leysen own goal, Club Brugge will bid to fight from behind on home turf on Thursday and continue their continental run with an aggregate triumph.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, will set out to defend a hard-fought narrow lead on Thursday with their own sights set on the quarter-finals of this year's Europa Conference League.
Unlike their Belgian hosts, Molde did have to battle through a playoff round to reach this stage of Europe's third competition, having began their continental campaign in the Europa League group stage and finished third behind Bayer Leverkusen and Qarabag with seven points on the board.
While that finish did see Erling Moe's side drop out of the competition, it was enough to earn them a place in the Conference League playoff round, and they would set up a round-of-16 tie with a 6-2 aggregate win over Legia Warsaw in February, initially winning 3-2 on home turf before dishing out a 3-0 beating in the away leg thanks to Fredrik Gulbrandsen's brace and an Eirik Hestad goal.
The Norwegian giants then welcomed Club Brugge to the Aker Stadion for the first leg of their final-16 tie last Thursday and drew first blood late in the first half through Halldor Stenevik, and after De Cuyper levelled the contest in the final 10 minutes, Gulbrandsen popped up with an injury-time goal to swing the tie back in his side's favour at the halfway mark.
Now facing a tough trip to Belgium with a slender lead to defend, Molde will bid to see out an aggregate win on Thursday and put their name in the hat for the quarter-finals.
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Team News
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Club Brugge head into Thursday's second leg without several key men, as goalkeeper Simon Mignolet is confined to the treatment room alongside Eder Balanta, Antonio Nusa and Igor Thiago.
It is Thiago who has been their star man going forward so far this term, netting 26 goals across all competitions, and in his absence Ferran Jutgla will continue to lead the line in their 4-2-3-1 shape, while De Cuyper will fight to return to a supporting trio after missing their league win over Leuven through suspension at the weekend.
Indeed, he could join Andreas Skov Olsen and Philip Zinckernagel behind the lone front man with Hans Vanaken offering further attacking support from the base of midfield alongside Raphael Onyedika.
Molde should only make minimal changes from their 2-1 win in the home leg last weekend, having not been in domestic action since, with Emil Breivik and January arrival Valdemar Lund remaining confined to the treatment room.
Eirik Haugan is expected to miss out, though, having been forced off inside 20 minutes last Thursday, and his replacement Halldor Stenevik opened the scoring from the bench in that match and should feature from the outset as a result.
Their attack should again be led by Veton Berisha and Fredrik Gulbrandsen, who netted the injury-time goal to see his side travel to Belgium with a lead, taking his tally to seven goals in eight European appearances so far this season.
Club Brugge possible starting lineup:
Jackers; Odoi, Spileers, Mechele, Meijer; Onyedika, Vanaken; Skov Olsen, Zinckernagel, De Cuyper; Jutgla
Molde possible starting lineup:
Petersen; Linnes, Hagelskjaer, Oyvann; Stenevik, Hestad, Daehli, Kaasa, Haugen; Berisha, Gulbrandsen
We say: Club Brugge 2-0 Molde (Club Brugge win 3-2 on aggregate)
Molde battled hard to gain the edge in their home leg last week, and Club Brugge are certainly wounded by several injuries in important places, but the hosts still possess plenty of quality, and we can only envisage them being too strong for the Norwegian outfit on Thursday and overturning the tie.
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Sam Varley
