FK Zalgiris will be hoping to secure a first-leg lead in the third qualifying round of the Europa League when they take on BK Hacken at Valniaus LFF Stadionas on Thursday evening.
Both these sides were involved in Champions League qualification over the last few weeks, but after being knocked out in the second qualifying round of that competition, they will now set their sites on reaching the playoffs of the Europa League against Aberdeen.
Match preview
The hosts are the reigning A Lyga champions and secured their third consecutive Lithuanian league title in the 2022 season by a whopping 21-point margin over Kauno Zalgiris in second place.
However, this season has proven to be a little more difficult for them as they are currently in second place after 25 games and trail Paneveys by six points while having also played one more game than the current league leaders.
Zalgiris were involved in Champions League qualifying over the last few weeks and made a bright start, beating Struga 2-1 on aggregate after holding them to a hard-fought 0-0 draw in the opening match.
In the second round, they were drawn against Super Lig champions Galatasaray, and after managing a very good 2-2 draw in the first leg, they were edged out of the tie 1-0 last week with Dries Mertens scoring the only goal in the second leg.
Vladimir Cheburin's side then played out a stalemate against league opponents FA Siauliai last weekend, extending their winless run to four matches in all competitions, which sees them come into this fixture as the outsiders.
Meanwhile, the 2022 campaign will go down in the history books for Hacken as they lifted the Allsvenskan title for the first time in their history while also securing their second-ever Svenska Cup in the same season.
Per-Mathias Hogmo's side managed 64 points in their 30 matches last term, beating Djurgarden by a seven-point margin, but they are currently third in the league this season after 18 matches and trail the league leaders IF Elfsborg by four points as it stands.
Like their opponents in this match, Hacken were involved in Champions League qualifying and took on The New Saints in their first match, which they won 5-1 on aggregate, with Ibrahim Sadiq scoring the opener in both legs.
In the second round, though, they came up against the league champions of the Faroe Islands, KI Klaksvik, and after a 0-0 draw in the first leg followed by a 3-3 draw in the second, the tie was eventually decided on penalties, which the Swedish outfit lost 4-3.
Hacken have not competed in the Europa League since the 2018-19 season when they were knocked out 4-2 by Liepaja in the first qualifying round, but having had an excellent last 18 months, they come into this match as the marginal favourites according to the bookmakers.
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Team News
Mathias Oyewusi has been fantastic for Cheburin's side this season, currently leading the league with 14 goals in 20 matches, and the Nigerian will almost certainly start in attack for the hosts.
Ovidijus Verbickas and Yury Kendysh have been the main creative sparks with five and four assists respectively for Zalgiris this season, while Petar Mamic has also chipped in with four assists from left-back, and all three are expected to start this match.
Hogmo has just one injury absentee for this encounter, and that is Simon Gustafson, who is suffering from a thigh injury and is expected to be sidelined for at least another couple of weeks.
Benie Traore had scored 20 goals for Hacken before departing for Sheffield United in the English Premier League, which means the attacking responsibilities have since fallen on Sadiq, who has risen to the task so far with six goals in his last eight matches.
FK Zalgiris possible starting lineup:
Gertmonas; Pavelic, Hnid, Vucur, Bopesu; Buff, Gorobsov, Kendysh, Mamic; Golubickas, Kehinde
Hacken possible starting lineup:
Abrahamsson; Fridriksson, Hammar, Hovland, Hansen; Rygaard, Gustafson, Sana; Layouni, Sadiq, Sonko
We say: FK Zalgiris 2-1 Hacken
Despite the hosts coming into the match as the underdogs, they showed their attacking prowess in the Champions League qualifiers, where they scored twice past the heavily fancied Galatasaray in their home match.
The visitors carry a strong attacking threat themselves, and we expect they will get on the scoresheet in this match, but we feel that the hosts will manage to claim an upset victory in this first-leg encounter.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
