On Thursday night, CSKA Sofia will be looking to get the better of Admira Wacker in the Europa League second qualifying round first leg.
CSKA Sofia are participating in the Europa League for the first time in four years. However, the Bulgarian team are unbeaten in seven games in the competition. The home side’s recent record in the Europa League is a bit misleading though, as six of those seven unbeaten games have finished in draws.
Their recent Europa League matches have been low scoring, with their last eight games producing under 2.5 goals.
CSKA saw off the challenge of Latvian outfit Riga in the previous round, winning the tie on penalties after both games finished 1-0. Incredibly, both teams had three players dismissed in the second leg as things got heated in extra-time.
The Bulgarian team have won just one of their last seven home games in the Europa League. However, the home side are unbeaten in four games on home soil in Europe’s secondary competition.
Admira have a somewhat inconsistent record in the Europa League. However, since the Austrian’s debut in the competition back in 2012, they have won just four games out of ten.
The visitor’s last stint in the Europa League was in 2016 when they suffered a 4-1 aggregate defeat against Czech Republic side Slovan Liberec. The consecutive defeats in the Liberec tie ended a run of three straight wins for the visitors in the competition.
Admira’s away record in the Europa League is a mixed one, as they have won two, drawn two and lost one of their five games on their travels in the competition.
Forebet predicts that CSKA Sofia will sneak a victory in a low scoring game. With a potentially tricky second leg to come only tell will tell if it will be enough to see them progress to the next round.