Viktoria Plzen carry a 2-1 lead into the second leg of their UEFA Champions League qualifier against Sheriff Tiraspol on Tuesday.
Last week, the Czech champions came from behind to snatch the advantage in Moldova – with Tomas Chory and Pavel Bucha grabbing the goals.
🤔#PLZPCE pic.twitter.com/CMqnimfeDj— FC Viktoria Plzeň (@fcviktorkaplzen) August 6, 2022
🤔#PLZPCE pic.twitter.com/CMqnimfeDj
Can Viktoria hold onto their lead? Or will Sheriff spring a surprise at Plzen’s Doosan Arena? It’s time to take a closer look at the teams.
Let’s start by looking at the hosts, Viktoria Plzen, who won the first leg – despite seeing less of the ball and registering fewer shots than Sheriff.
Thanks to last weekend’s 2-1 victory over FK Pardubice in the Czech First League, Viktoria have kicked off the 2022-23 campaign with a five-game unbeaten streak across all competitions.
It is also noting that Plzen lost just one of their seven pre-season friendlies, securing four wins and two draws along the way.
Given Plzen’s recent form, it is no surprise that the Czech champions are the bookies’ favourites to advance to the play-off round.
As for Sheriff, they will be kicking themselves after failing to make the most of their dominance in the first leg.
Despite seeing the lion’s share of possession and notching 12 shots – five of which were on target – the Tiraspol outfit were unable to avoid defeat.
Still, Sheriff returned to winning ways last weekend – claiming a 3-1 victory over Sfintul Gheorghe in the Moldovan Super Liga.
Having lost just one of their previous 18 games across all competitions, Sheriff will be confident of turning things around on Tuesday.
Head-to-head: Viktoria and Sheriff met for the first time last week, meaning the Czechs have the upper hand over the Moldovans in the H2H record.
Team news: Viktoria Plzen will play the second leg without Petr Pejsa, who is sidelined due to a cruciate ligament rupture.
On the flip side, Sheriff are injury-free at the moment – meaning head coach Stjepan Tomas has a full-strength squad at his disposal.
Given what happened in the first leg, Viktoria are expected to secure another victory over Sheriff. Unfortunately, Sheriff’s Champions League dreams look set to end on Tuesday.
Forebet predicts that Viktoria Plzen will seal a low-scoring win against Sheriff, keeping a clean sheet in the process.