The 2nd legs of the 1st qualifying round of this season’s Champions League will be played during this week and Wednesday evening features this upcoming 2nd leg tie between last season’s Hungarian NB I title-winners, Ferencvaros, and their Kazakhstan counterparts, Tobol, when the two teams clash at the Groupama Aréna.
Following a 0-0 draw in last week’s 1st leg at Tobol’s Ortalıq Stadion, this return leg is evenly poised with both teams seemingly possessing an equal chance to qualify for the next qualifying round.
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With home advantage behind them though, Ferencvaros may well fancy their chances in securing a place in the 2nd qualifying round of this competition after having done the supposed hard work in containing Tobol in their own backyard last week.
Ferencvaros are not expecting an easy ride though, despite winning three of their last four home ties in the Champions League, collecting victories over Prishtina, Zalgiris and Slavia Prague in the process and also keeping clean sheets in each of these wins as well.
Tobol may be rueing what could be a missed opportunity to gain a 1st leg lead in last week’s encounter at their Ortalıq Stadion.
But the visitors are still in with a fighting chance to progress to the next round of qualifiers.
Last season’s domestic top flight title winners, Tobol, claimed their place in this season’s Champions League for only a second time.
But an 11-year gap separates their last campaign and this as they last appeared in the competition back in 2011.
On that occasion, Tobol bowed out to Slovakian outfit, Slovan Bratislava 3-1 on aggregate but they’ll be determined to make a better fist of things this time around.
The visitors will still be boosted by the fact that they held Ferencvaros to a 0-0 draw in last week’s 1st leg.
In their only other away tie at this level, Tobol were beaten 2-0 in Bratislava but the visitors will want to keep things as tight as possible on this trip and perhaps take their chances on the break or at set-pieces.
Last week was the first time these two teams had ever played each other and a dour 0-0 draw ensued, and a similar scoreline could be on the cards again in this return leg with very little to choose between the two clubs with under 2.5 goals looking quite likely.