The big guns are on the scene in the Conference League, and we are talking about the five teams from the major European leagues. Besides Fiorentina, who will represent Italy this year thanks to their seventh place finish last year, there are also Villarreal, Nice, Cologne and West Ham. All potential favourites, mainly the Spaniards, who even reached the semi-finals in the last edition of the Champions League. However, the regulations of the third continental event stipulate that none of them have already qualified for the group stage, and they will have to win their place in the group phase through the play-offs. Everything is ready, then, for the first leg of the last preliminary round: this time there are seventeen matches scheduled, including the one at the ‘Franchi’.
In Florence, Vincenzo Italiano’s Fiorentina host the dangerous Twente after having won in the last minute in the championship opener against Cremonese. The Viola have shown that they have several solutions in attack but at the same time they tend to uncover themselves too much: they start as favourites over the Dutch but it will in all probability be a goal-scoring match
AZ Alkmaar’s De Wit ©️Ansafoto
Decidedly less complicated tasks, however, for Villarreal, West Ham and Nice. All three should secure qualification in the first leg against Hajduk Split, Viborg and Maccabi Tel Aviv respectively. More complicated is the away leg for Basel, who will play in Bulgaria against CSKA Sofia, while AZ Alkmaar will most likely prevail against the Portuguese side Gil Vicente. Similarly, we assume a success for Rapid Vienna at the home of the surprising Vaduz. The same goes for Slovacko, who will at least avoid defeat in their home match against Sweden’s AIK.
Finally, those in search of goals should consider Molde-Wolfsberger, Young Boys-Anderlecht and Basaksehir-Antwerp. At least one goal each in Maribor-Cluj, FCSB-Viking and Rakow-Slavia Prague.
Conference League: likely winners
Slovacko or draw (in Slovacko-AIK, 19:00)
Basel or draw (in CSKA Sofia-Basel, 19:00)
Nice (in Maccabi Tel Aviv-Nice, 19:00)
Rapid Vienna (in Vaduz-Rapid Vienna, 20:00)
Villarreal (in Villarreal-Hajduk Split, 20:45)
West Ham (in West Ham-Viborg, 20:45)
AZ Alkmaar (in AZ Alkmaar-Gil Vicente, 21:00)
The matches with at least one goal per team
Rakow Czestochowa-Slavia Prague, 18:00
Maribor-Cluj, 20:15
FCSB-Viking, 20:30
Fiorentina-Twente, 21:00
Rakow
Matches with a total of at least three goals
Molde-Wolfsberger, 19:00
Young Boys-Anderlecht, 19:00
Basaksehir-Antwerp, 19:45
Cologne-MOL Fehervar, 20:30
Villarreal-Hajduk Split, 20:45
Fiorentina-Twente, 21:00
