Fenerbahce Face Uphill Task in Europa League
Fenerbahce are a team well known around European football and have been involved in both the Champions League and Europa League in recent years.
Their best performances have been the quarter-final of the Champions League and the semi-final of the Europa League, so this is a team which has proven capable of competing with the elite around Europe.
However, this season they have a fight on their hands to qualify for the group stages of the Europa League having lost the first leg of their playoff tie 2-0 to FK Vardar in Macedonia.
FK Vardar do not have much of a history in European competition and have failed to get beyond the second round of qualifying in several recent attempts. However, this season they made it to the third qualifying round of the Champions League and now hope to reach the Europa League group stages.
Fenerbahce have started the new season in poor form and trends show they have won only one of their five competitive matches. The only victory came in the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round match at Sturm Graz, a game they won 2-1. However, the Turks were held to a 1-1 draw by the Austrians in the second leg.
In the Super Lig, Fenerbahce have drawn both their games 2-2, which leaves them sitting in mid-table. They were held at Goztepe and at home to Trabzonspor.
Trends show FK Vardar have enjoyed a successful start to their season, especially in Europe. They caused a shock by defeating Malmo in the Champions League second qualifying round and beat FC Copenhagen 1-0 at home in the third qualifying round.
Unfortunately, they could not produce a similar performance in the away leg against FC Copenhagen and lost the match 4-1, going out 4-2 on aggregate.
While the result seemed to have a negative impact on their following league match, which they lost, it did not dampen their spirits in the Europa League. FK Vardar produced an excellent display to defeat Fenerbahce 2-0 in the first leg and followed that up with a good home win their domestic league on the weekend.
Looking at the team news and Fenerbahce have a trio of players unavailable due to injury. Centre back Yigithan Guveli, midfielder Uygar Zeybek, and striker Fernandao are all on the treatment table. The Turks must also make do without the suspended Souza, who was sent off last week.
FK Vardar are without defender Boban Grncarov who also saw red in the first leg. Otherwise, the Macedonian team should be at full strength.
Fenerbahce must come out and attack to overturn the 2-0 deficit. They have a good home record in the Europa League and must be considered favourites for the match.
The way FK Vardar were defeated by FC Copenhagen in the away leg of their Champions League tie suggests they are going to find this tough. However, they have a 2-0 lead to protect this time and even if they lose the match by 2 goals, if they score themselves it will be enough to see them through.
A Fenerbahce win, with both teams scoring but FK Vardar to go through is a real prospect for this game.
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