Moldovan National Divison champions Sheriff Tiraspol will welcome Bate Borisov to the Bolshaya Sportinaya Arena for a first-leg clash in the Europa League third round of qualifiers on Thursday evening.
Both sides will be looking to put their Champions League qualification disappointments from a week ago behind them, with a potential playoff place against KI Klaksvik or Molde FK awaiting the winners of this two-legged tie.
Match preview
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The 21-time league champions Sheriff secured their sixth consecutive Moldovan league title last season, overcoming Petrocub by six points in the regular season and by three in the all-important championship round.
Over both stages of the league competition, Roberto Bordin's men recorded 17 wins, six draws, and just one loss in 24 league matches while remaining unbeaten in their 10 championship round matches.
Sheriff were involved in two dramatic rounds in the Champions League qualifiers before this, which started with a first-leg loss against Farul, which they managed to overturn in extra time in the second leg, and after taking the lead against Maccabi Haifa in the second round, it looked very promising for the Moldovan outfit.
However, after Mahmoud Jaber levelled proceedings and Henrique Luvannor was shown a second yellow, The Greens made the most of their man advantage, scoring two goals in extra time to win the tie 4-2.
The Wasps were knocked out in the third qualifying round of the Champions League last season and finished third in their group in this competition behind Real Sociedad and Manchester United.
Still, with much greater continental competition experience and off the back of a solid 1-0 win against their league rivals Petrocub over the weekend, the hosts will be fairly confident about their chances of claiming a first-leg lead in this one.
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Meanwhile, BATE ended last season in third place in the Belarusian Premier League but replaced Shakhtyor in the Champions League qualifiers after the league winners were stripped of their title due to their involvement in a match-fixing scandal.
In addition to Shakhtyor, second-placed Energetic-BGU and Belshina Bobruisk were the other two teams found guilty of offering illegal financial incentives to other teams in the league, and all three sides were handed points deductions.
The visitors were drawn against Albanian champions Partizani Tirana and won their home leg 2-0 to secure a 3-1 aggregate victory, but they found themselves on the wrong side of a goal fest in the second round, which ended 11-5 on aggregate in favour of Cyprus outfit Aris Limassol.
While they are still alive in Europe, BATE's domestic form has suffered as they are currently in fifth place at the halfway point of the campaign and already 13 points behind the league leaders Dinamo Minsk.
Kirill Alshevskiy's side last competed in this competition in the 2018-19 season when they made it to the knockout stages, and while they are big outsiders due to their erratic form this season, they cannot be written off from the competition just yet.
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Team News
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Luvannor opened his account in the league against Petrocub last week and will almost certainly lead the line, though it will be interesting to see if Bordin opts for the lone frontman as he did in the last match or if he reverts to the usual 4-4-2 setup.
In the event of the Sheriff boss opting for the latter, Jerome Ngom Mbekeli will be the most likely to partner Luvannor up front, while Joao Paulo Fernandes will make up the fifth man in midfield if he goes for the single striker formation.
Valeri Gromyko is the leading scorer for BATE this season with six goals in the league, and he should continue in the number 10 role after getting on the scoresheet against Aris Limassol in the Champions Lague qualifiers last week.
Having conceded 11 goals in their last two matches, Alshevskiy may be tempted to make changes in defence which could see Aleksandr Martynov play from the start in this one after coming off the bench before half-time in the last match.
Sheriff Tiraspol possible starting lineup:
Koval; Zohouri, Tovar, Garananga, Apostolakis; Fernandes, Kyabouu, Ademo, Tala, Badolol; Luvannor
BATE Borisov possible starting lineup:
Kudravets; Nechayev, Khadarkevich, Martynov, Jimoh; Bocherov, Podstrelov, Grechikho, Gromyko, Kontsevoy; Antilevski
We say: Sheriff Tiraspol 3-1 BATE Borisov
Sheriff are no strangers to these types of big-night encounters, and they will be expecting to secure a healthy advantage to take to Borisov Arena next week. However, BATE have shown that they carry an attacking threat, and we expect they will get something to show for their effort in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
