Fenerbahce set for slender victory over Slovacko in Europa League qualifying
2001
The third qualifying round for the 2022/23 UEFA Europa League begins on Thursday. In Turkey, Fenerbahçe host Czech side Slovacko for the first leg of their showdown.
Slovacko booked their place in the Europa League qualification phase after finishing fourth in the Czech First League last season.
On the flip side, Fenerbahçe failed to make it past the second qualifying round for the UEFA Champions League. As a result, they dropped into the Europa League.
The Turkish outfit suffered a 2-1 aggregate defeat to Dynamo Kyiv in Champions League qualifying, conceding an extra-time goal to end their UCL hopes.
Following a goalless draw in the first leg, Fenerbahçe lost 2-1 on home soil – following a red card for Ismail Yuksek.
Fenerbahçe have played six pre-season friendlies in the lead-up to the 2022/23 Turkish Super Lig campaign, picking five wins and one draw in the process.
After finishing second in the Super Lig last term, the Turkish giants will be eager to qualify for Europe this time around.
Meanwhile, Slovacko kicked off their domestic campaign last weekend – drawing 2-2 with Brno on Matchday 1 of the 2022/23 Czech First League season.
Thanks to a strong end to the previous campaign, the Czech side have lost just one of their past six games across all competitions.
It is also worth noting that Slovacko enjoyed an unbeaten run of pre-season friendlies, securing six wins and two draws across June and July.
Having secured their first piece of major silverware last term – winning the Czech Cup – Slovacko will fancy their chances of reaching the Europa League proper.
Head-to-head: Fenerbahçe and Slovacko have never faced each other before, meaning we have no previous results to assess for this fixture.
Team news: Fenerbahçe’s lengthy injury list includes Joshua King, Ferdi Kadioglu, Joao Predro, Altay Bayindir, Mert Hakan Yandas, Serdar Aziz and Nazim Sangare.
By contrast, Slovacko are injury-free. However, they recently sold star striker Vaclav Jurecka, who scored 20 goals in 44 games across all competitions last term.
Although Slovacko are expected to put up a decent fight on Thursday, Fenerbahçe should have more than enough quality to come out on top.
Forbet predicts that both teams will score on Thursday. However, Fenerbahçe are likely to outscore Slovacko.
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