After cancelling each other out seven days ago in Azerbaijan, Viktoria Plzen and Qarabag will battle it out for one of the last six group stage passes in the Czech city’s Doosan Arena. Last Wednesday’s zero-zero draw in Baku was anything but exciting. A match in which the hosts could have gone ahead if they had been more precise and less sloppy in front of the goal defended by Mahammadaliyev. One only has to look at the statistics to see that Michal Bilek’s team went to the Caspian Sea with the sole aim of avoiding defeat, and then played all they could in front of their home crowd.
Qarabag proved to be superior in terms of play, but not having capitalised on what they have built up now forces them to go for an away win to be sure of making it through. For Gurban Gurbanov’s men, that should not be a big problem, having already managed it in the previous two rounds: against Zurich they came out on top in extra time, while at home to Ferencvaros they put in a great performance, overwhelming the green-and-whites at home with a 1-3 victory. It is unlikely that the Azerbaijani attack will run out of steam for the second game in a row: since the season began, Qarabag have always scored at least one goal, with the exception of the Poznan game against Lech.
Viktoria Plzen, until the Baku match, had also swelled the opponent’s net with some regularity, both in their own league and in the Champions League preliminaries. And unlike Qarabag, they are still undefeated: in addition to their four cup victories against HJK and Sheriff Tiraspol, Hejda and his teammates have had two wins and a draw in 1.Liga.
Michal Bilek ©️Ansafoto
The Prediction
A week ago Viktoria Plzen achieved their goal but in their own stadium they will have to adopt a more proactive attitude to avoid being crushed in their own penalty area again. The feeling, then, is that this time both sides could score unlike in the first leg. And Qarabag, in our opinion, remain slight favourites for qualification. It cannot be ruled out that regulation time will end in a deadlock again.
Viktoria Plzen-Qarabag
likely line-ups
VIKTORIA PLZEN (3-5-2): Stanek; Jemelka, Pernica, Hejda; Havel, Kalvach, Bucha, Sykora, Kpoic; Chory, Mosquera.
QARABAG (4-3-3): Mahammadaliyev; Bayramov, Huseynov, Vesovic, Mustafazada; Jankovic, Qarayev, Kady; Zoubir, Wadji, Sheydayev.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
