On Wednesday night, Karabakh Agdam (Qarabag) and Olimpija Ljubljana clash in the second leg of the Champions League first qualifying round.
Qarabag won the first leg of this tie, and the Azerbaijani champions are favourites to head through to the next round.
Qarabag’s recent Champions league history has not been great, as they have won just one of their last eight games in the competition. However, they made the group stages last season when they faced the likes of Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and Roma.
Qarabag were by no means steamrollered last season in the competition, as they managed two draws against Atletico Madrid. The fact that four of the home side’s last five games in the Champions league has produced under 2.5 goals illustrates the tight nature of their latest European games.
The Azerbaijani league leaders have failed to win in their last three home games in the Champions league, but they have suffered just two defeats in their previous 12 matches on home soil in the competition.
Quite impressively, the home side has kept clean sheets in four of their last six home games in the Champions league. The addition of reliable Icelandic goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson could help the home side keep up their good defensive record in Europe’s elite competition.
Olimpija Ljubljana has minimal Champions League experience. In fact, this clash will be just their third game in Europe’s elite competition. Their record of two defeats and one win victory is poor for the Slovenian visitors.
However, Olimpija have won their only away game in the competition, when the visitors defeated Slovakian side Trencin 3-2 in 2016. The visitors will need to produce an impressive display to progress past their more experienced European opponents in this clash.
Forebet predicts that Qarabag will record a victory in a low scoring game to progress to the second qualifying round of the competition.