Young Boys and Sporting Lisbon will meet in competitive action for the first time ever on Thursday as they kick off their two-legged Europa League knockout round playoff tie.
The hosts dropped into the continent's secondary competition after finishing third in their Champions League group, while their Portuguese visitors finished second in their Europa League group.
Match preview
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Young Boys head into the Europa League knockout playoff on Thursday on the back of an exit from their Champions League group before the turn of the year, having booked a place in Europe's top competition with a 3-0 aggregate win over Maccabi Haifa in the playoff round.
The Swiss champions joined Manchester City, RB Leipzig and Red Star Belgrade in a tricky group, and any hopes of a top-two finish were all but put to bed as they collected just one point from the first four outings, playing out a 2-2 draw away at the latter while suffering a pair of defeats to Manchester City and a 3-1 home loss to RB Leipzig.
Then likely left to compete for third spot with the chance to drop into the continent's secondary competition, Raphael Wicky's side welcomed Red Star Belgrade for the return fixture and gained crucial ground with a 2-0 victory thanks to Kosta Nedeljkovic's own goal and a Lewin Blum finish.
While they would finish with a 2-1 defeat away at RB Leipzig in mid-December, that previous win was enough for the Swiss outfit to seal third spot and earn a chance to enter the Europa League round of 16 through a playoff, and they now head into Thursday's tie in the midst of a pleasing run, having moved seven points clear at the summit of the Swiss Super League with back-to-back wins over Yverdon Sport and Lausanne-Sport and a 3-3 draw away at Lugano on Saturday.
Young Boys will now bid to gain an edge in Thursday's first leg and take a lead into their trip to Portugal next week as they look to keep their continental campaign alive with a Europa League final-16 spot.
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They meet a visiting side who will also bid to gain a lead in the two-legged tie and continue their Europa League run after finishing second in their group before the turn of the year.
Following a fourth-placed finish in the Portuguese Primeira Liga last time around, Sporting Lisbon entered Europe's secondary competition in the group stage, and they enjoyed a pleasing campaign, collecting 11 points from their six matches with the only defeat coming in the second round of games at the hands of Italian outfit Atalanta.
Having drawn in the reverse fixture in Bergamo, while completing a double over Sturm Graz and picking up a win and a draw from two meetings with Rakow Czestochowa, Ruben Amorim's side eventually finished three points behind Atlanta and settled for a second-placed finish, booking their place in the upcoming playoffs.
Os Leoes now return to continental action in the midst of a fine campaign, having laid a strong claim to reclaim the Primeira Liga title thus far with 52 points from their opening 20 games including seven straight wins heading into Thursday's match, most recently thrashing Casa Pia and Braga 8-0 and 5-0 respectively with Sebastian Coates, Viktor Gyokeres and Francisco Trincao netting braces alongside Pedro Goncalves and Geny Catamo goals in the former and Trincao and Gyokeres again on the scoresheet with Eduardo Quaresma, Daniel Braganca and Nuno Santos in the latest triumph on Sunday.
With such a result leaving them second in the Portuguese top flight, just one point behind Benfica with a game in hand, and having also booked a place in the upcoming Taca de Portugal semi-finals, Sporting Lisbon will look to strengthen their eye-catching campaign across all fronts with a victory on Thursday to move ahead in the fight for a Europa League round-of-16 place.
Team News
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Following the January departure of top scorer Jean-Pierre Nsame, Young Boys' attack will again be spearheaded by Cedric Itten, who has notched up eight goals so far this term.
Ebrima Colley will keep his place in a front three after finding the net in their 3-3 draw with Lugano last time out, while Joel Mvuka will bid to earn a starting berth having come off the bench to also get on the scoresheet in that game.
Darian Males will also fight to come in from the outset in midfield, after Lukasz Lakomy was preferred alongside mainstays Filip Ugrinic and Sandro Lauper in the centre on Saturday, while Mohamed Camara and Fabian Lustenberger will continue in the middle of a back four in the absence of Loris Benito through injury.
Ruben Amorim may opt to deploy an unchanged starting XI on Thursday from their 5-0 beating of Braga last time out, with Ousmane Diomande unlikely to come straight back into the defence having only recently returned from international duty with Ivory Coast in a triumphant Africa Cup of Nations campaign.
Instead, Eduardo Quaresma, Sebastian Coates and Goncalo Inacio should line up in an unchanged back three, while Morten Hjumland and Hidemasa Morita will likely continue their midfield partnership in a 3-4-3 shape.
At the top end of the pitch, their line should again be led by Viktor Gyokeres, who has already notched up 27 goals in just 29 appearances across all competitions since his summer arrival, while Pedro Goncalves and Francisco Trincao will continue to play key roles either side.
Young Boys possible starting lineup:
Von Ballmoos; Blum, Camara, Lustenberger, Hadjam; Males, Lauper, Ugrinic; Mvuka, Itten, Colley
Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:
Adan; Quaresma, Coates, Inacio; Catamo, Hjulmand, Morita, Santos; Trincao, Gyokeres, Goncalves
We say: Young Boys 1-2 Sporting Lisbon
Sporting Lisbon boast more quality than their hosts, and while they are unlikely to go all out for a big victory with a home leg looming, we still fancy Amorim's men to come out on top on Thursday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
