Low-scoring affair on cards between Maribor and Shakhtyor
NK Maribor vs Shakhter Soligorsk - 06/07/2022
3215
The champions of Slovenia and Belarus will kick off their Champions League qualification campaign on Wednesday, as Maribor play host to Shakhtyor Soligorsk in the 1st leg of this 1st qualifying round tie.
Either Zrinjski or Sheriff Tiraspol will await the victors in round two, while the losers will drop into the third round of the Europa Conference League Qualifying process.
But hosts, Maribor, will be upbeat about their chances here after capturing the Slovenian top flight league title at the end of last season.
Maribor are no strangers to the Champions League stage and they have never been eliminated in the 1st round of Champions League Qualifying before but recent results in the pre-season stage have been disappointing.
Indeed, the Slovenian champions have won just one of their five pre-season friendly fixtures and also failed to win any of their four exhibition matches at home which included drawing three of their last four games on home soil.
The Belarus Premier League season is now in full swing but last season’s title winners, Shakhtyor Soligorsk, who finished with a 10-point margin over closest challengers BATE Borisov already find themselves seven points adrift of BATE, sitting in 6th place.
Shakhtyor will at least have the benefit of a full week's break in between their two legs with Maribor after their scheduled league showdown with Slutsk was postponed.
And the visitors will be relying on their competitive match-fitness to see them through over the upcoming two legs.
Shakhtyor have only appeared in Champions League Qualifying twice before, with all four of Shakhtyor's Champions League Qualifying games so far ending in a 1-0 defeat, so the prospect of a high-scoring game here in this 1st leg looks unlikely.
Maribor do not have any injury woes to contend with following the pre-season period but the hosts will be without their influential striker, Tavares, following his recent retirement.
Meanwhile, although Shakhtyor midfielder Korzun was sent off last time out in a league game against Torpedo Zhodino, he will be available for selection to manager, Sergey Tashuev, who will be looking for his side to keep things tight at the back in order to head into next week’s return leg on level-pegging with Maribor.
As neither side have played each other before, this could be a tight encounter as both sides weigh each other up in this 1st leg.
Home team
Away team
Pred
Correct score
Avg. goals
Weather conditions
Coef.
Score
Live
coef.
UCL
422632
1
1 - 0
1.70
23°
1.73
1.73
3.40
4.50
no
no
no
0 - 0(0 - 0)
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