With 90 minutes between them and a spot in the Europa League group stages, Union SG will endeavour to replicate last week's dominant display when they travel to Swiss outfit Lugano in the second leg of their qualifying playoff tie on Thursday.
The Belgian upstarts eased to a 2-0 victory at their Brussels base in the opening encounter and must simply avoid a three-goal capitulation in Geneva to prolong their second-tier continental adventure.
Match preview
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Five days before travelling to Union SG for the first leg of their Europa League playoff tie, Lugano put seven unanswered goals past Gunzwil in a Swiss Cup crushing, but their attacking powers waned when they stepped foot onto the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium soil.
Indeed, Mattia Croci-Torti's side fell behind with just eight minutes on the clock to Dennis Eckert Ayensa's effort, and despite testing Union goalkeeper Anthony Moris on six occasions, they could not find a way through and eventually succumbed to a second effort from Casper Terho.
The omens are not promising for Lugano ahead of Thursday's crunch clash either, as they also went down 2-0 to Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the first leg of a Europa Conference League qualifier last year, and rather than produce a spectacular second-leg comeback, they were dumped out 5-1 on aggregate.
The Bianconeri are not complete novices when it comes to European competition, having participated in the Europa League group stage as recently as the 2017-18 and 2019-20 seasons, and they were granted a weekend off from Swiss Super League action to prepare for their arduous continental task.
A three-goal turnaround is not beyond the realm of possibility when taking Lugano's home form into account, as Croci-Torti's team have won each of their last six contests in front of their own fans, although Thursday's game will take place at Servette's Stade de Geneve rather than Lugano's Cornaredo Stadium, which fellow below UEFA's requirements.
Such a positive streak of results on their own territory may therefore pale into insignificance, but playing away from their regular headquarters did not faze Union SG last week, as they put Lugano to the sword at Anderlecht's Constant Vanden Stock Stadium due to their ground also failing to meet UEFA's criteria.
Only one year after their meteoric rise back to the first tier of Belgian football, Union SG nabbed second place in the standings in 2021-22 before clinching the final spot on the podium last time around, thereby earning another chance to upset the Europa League apple cart.
After topping their section with Malmo, Braga and Union Berlin last year, the Unionistes also overcame the latter side 6-3 on aggregate in the last 16 before a glamour tie with Bayer Leverkusen in the quarter-finals, where Xabi Alonso's side ended their fairytale journey 5-2 over two legs.
Only a few months later, Union SG - who are now managed by Alexander Blessin - will either make it back-to-back Europa League group-stage appearances or enter the Europa Conference League for the very first time, and they went unbeaten across all five of their away games in continental football last season, but their most recent road match ended in a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Mechelen.
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Team News
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With no players forced off through injury in the first leg and no league game to deplete energy levels at the weekend, Lugano should come into the second leg with an identical squad to last week, leaving a quartet of players absent due to physical glitches.
Argentine attacker Ignacio Aliseda is recovering from appendicitis, while fellow winger Hicham Mahou, midfielder Adrian Durrer and goalkeeper Sebastian Osigwe are also sidelined with unspecified complaints and will not be available either.
Following a four-year stint in German football with Wolfsburg, Renato Steffen is now up to his usual tricks on the right for Lugano and leads the way for the hosts domestically, coming up with two goals and two assists in four top-flight contests so far this term.
Similarly, Union SG have not been in action since last week's two-goal success - in which they also emerged unscathed physically - so only English centre-back Ross Sykes should sit this one out as he recuperates from a knee problem.
No fewer than 10 players have arrived at Union SG during the summer transfer window, including former Lugano striker Mohamed Amoura, who netted 17 goals for this weekend's hosts before making the switch to Belgium earlier this month.
Amoura was not involved against his former club last week, though, and while it is unclear if he will be considered for his debut here, Eckert Ayensa will surely start at the tip of the attack once more, while Kevin Mac Allister - brother of Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister - should form one part of a three-man backline.
Lugano possible starting lineup:
Saipi; Espinoza, Hajrizi, Hajdari, Valenzuela; Sabbatini, Grgic; Steffen, Bislimi, Cimignani; Celar
Union SG possible starting lineup:
Moris; Machida, Mac Allister, Burgess; Terho, Amani, Vanhoutte, Lapoussin; Rasmussen, Puertas; Eckert Ayensa
We say: Lugano 1-2 Union SG (Union SG win 4-1 on aggregate)
With Lugano needing to adopt a gung-ho approach in order to keep the tie alive, gaps will open up for the Union SG attackers to exploit, and playing away from their familiar stadium will not do the hosts any favours either.
While Croci-Torti's side should make one of their forays forward count for something, keeping the Union SG attack at bay will surely be too tall an order, as the Belgian side put their name in the pot for the Europa League group-stage draw.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
