Istanbul Basaksehir and Petrocub Hincesti are winless in this season's Conference League heading into Wednesday's matchday four encounter at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium.
The Turkish side have had a wretched domestic and continental season, ranking 32nd in the latter, and they hope to end an extended winless run against the cellar-dwelling European debutants.
Match preview
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Although Basaksehir ended fourth in the Turkish Super League last term, the 2024-25 campaign has been underwhelming for the one-time top-flight champions.
Cagdas Atan's men have won a quarter of their 12 league fixtures, playing out four draws and losing four, leaving them eighth in the table, six points adrift of the previous season's final position.
The Grey Owls have not turned it on in Europe, as evidenced by a three-match winless start to the Conference League, losing to Rapid Vienna (1-2) and Celje (1-5) before playing out a 2-2 draw on matchday three against Copenhagen.
Not even the recent international break helped, with Atan's men losing 3-0 to Gaziantep at the weekend, continuing a winless run stretching to the final week in September.
Since the Istanbul outfit's last success against Sivasspor (2-1) on September 27, Basaksehir have failed to notch a positive result in nine matches in all competitions, an unwanted run that could become 10 if maximum points are not accrued on Wednesday.
Also worrying is Turuncu Lacivertliler's inability to score consistently, highlighted by the team scoring twice in two games during the ongoing winless sequence, netting one in four games and firing blanks three times.
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Atan's men have not scored in consecutive matches heading into Wednesday's encounter with Petrocub, and the Moldovan club hope to extend that wait by thwarting the toothless Grey Owls.
While Andrei Martin's team have found the jump to continental competition steep, the defending Moldovan champion's league campaign has fared reasonably well, given their progress to the league's Phase II stage after ending third in Phase I.
Regardless, the second Moldovan club to participate in the group or league phase of any continental competition have lost all three games, falling to Pafos (1-4), Jagiellonia (0-2) and Rapid (0-3).
Goals have been scarce — reflecting the club creating just one clear-cut chance in three matches — and nine goals conceded are higher than all but St. Gallen, who have conceded 11.
Given their issues at both ends of the pitch, it will be interesting to see how the Conference League's bottom club fare when they travel to Istanbul on Wednesday, seeking their first European point after three consecutive losses.
Although last Saturday's league defeat at Zimbru was not fatal, the 1-0 loss marked the White-Blacks firing blanks in two of their three matches in all competitions, highlighting wider goalscoring issues.
Having failed to score more than one goal in seven of the previous eight fixtures, the travelling support may not anticipate a positive outcome in Istanbul.
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Team News
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Omer Ali Sahiner and Davidson missed Basaksehir's Super Lig game against Gaziantep due to injury and could miss Wednesday's match, while Deniz Turuc will be assessed after going off after 32 minutes in the same fixture.
Matchoi Djalo, Eren Karaagac, Patryk Szysz, Yusuf Yilmaz and Omer Beyaz are ineligible, ruling them out of selection.
Krzysztof Piatek has notched 50% of the Turkish club's four goals in the league phase and aims to add to that tally against the Moldovan visitors.
Dumitru Bivol, Constantin Sandu, and Nicky Clescenco will be unavailable for Petrocub's mid-week fixture due to ineligibility.
Despite firing blanks on the continent, Marin Caruntu (four goals), Dumitru Demian and Mihai Lupan (three each) have outscored their teammates domestically and hope to come up trumps in Istanbul.
Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Sengezer; Duarte, Gureler, Opoku, Lima; Pelkas, Ozdemir, Ozcan; Figueiredo, Piatek, Gurler
Petrocub Hincesti possible starting lineup:
Smalenea; Potirniche, Mudrac, Piatica; I. Jardan, V. Jardan, Douanla, Demian; Ambros, Caruntu, Lupan
We say: Istanbul Basaksehir 2-0 Petrocub Hincesti
Despite their league struggles, Wednesday presents Basaksehir an opportunity to secure maximum points against one of the competition's weakest sides, and we expect the off-form Turkish side to beat Petrocub in Istanbul.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
