The second legs of the third round of qualifying in the 2022/23 Champions League take place this week and on the 9th of August we have a meeting between Ferencvárosi TC and Qarabağ FK.
The game will be played at the Groupama Aréna in Budapest and the hosts will feel they have a chance following the first leg in Azerbaijan.
The first leg ended with a 1️⃣-1️⃣ score We meet again next week in Budapest! 💚🤍 pic.twitter.com/NArTmhzxtH— Ferencvárosi TC (@Fradi_HU) August 3, 2022
The first leg ended with a 1️⃣-1️⃣ score We meet again next week in Budapest! 💚🤍 pic.twitter.com/NArTmhzxtH
Ferencvárosi TC most recent fixture was the first leg of this Champions League third qualifying round tie in Baku. The Hungarians opened the scoring after 17 minutes and despite conceding an equaliser 11 minutes before half time, they held on to get a draw.
That result means Ferencvárosi TC are undefeated in 5 of their 6 competitive fixtures this season. There have been wins over Tobol and Puskas at home, with the former being in the Champions League and the latter in the NB I.
There was also an excellent 4-1 away win at Slovan Bratislava in the second round of qualifying in the Champions League plus a 0-0 draw at Tobol.
The only defeat of the season came at home against Slovan Bratislava in the second round of Champions League qualifying but Ferencvárosi TC managed to overturn the deficit in the away leg.
Trends show Ferencvárosi TC have won 4 of their last 6 home Champions League matches and both teams have scored in each of their last 3 home Champions League games.
Qarabağ FK make the trip to the Groupama Aréna on the back of a 3-1 home win over Səbail in the Azerbaijan Premyer Liqa on the weekend. Qarabağ FK were 3-0 up shortly after half time and conceded a goal with 18 minutes of the remaining but stayed in control of the game.
That result means Qarabağ FK are undefeated in their last 5 competitive matches this season. There have been wins over Lech Poznań and FC Zürich at home in the Champions League plus draws with FC Zürich away and Ferencvárosi TC at home.
Trends show Qarabağ FK are undefeated in 7 of their last 8 away Champions League fixtures. However, they have recorded only 2 wins from those 7 games and have seen both teams score in 3 of their last 4 away Champions League matches.
Team news and Ferencvárosi TC are likely to go with a similar starting XI to the first leg. The only change could come in defence with Rasmus Thelander starting in place of Samy Mmaee.
Qarabağ FK are also unlikely to make many changes to their team from the first leg. That means Ibrahima Wadji will start up-front with support from Owusu Kwabena and Abdellah Zoubir out wide.
Ferencvárosi TC may believe they have a decent chance of progressing to the playoffs but Qarabağ FK will have other ideas. They are a difficult team to beat when playing at this stage of the Champions League and Qarabağ FK could come away with the win to seal their place in the next round.