Dinamo Minsk and Ludogorets Razgrad return to action in the Champions League qualifiers when they square off at the Mezokovesdi Varosi Stadion in the second leg of the second qualifying round on Wednesday.
Having suffered defeat in Bulgaria last week, the Belarusian outfit will be looking to overturn a two-goal deficit in front of their home supporters and continue their quest for a first European appearance since 2016.
Match preview
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Following a somewhat disappointing goalless draw at home versus Pyunik Yerevan in the first leg of the first qualifying round on July 10, Dinamo Minsk would get the job done in Armenia six days later when they snatched a late 1-0 victory.
Aleksei Gavrilovich kept his cool under pressure as he converted his 90th-minute penalty to hand the visitors a 1-0 win in Yerevan and sent them through to the second round.
However, Dinamo Minsk were sent back to earth last Wednesday as they fell to a 2-0 first-leg defeat against Ludogorets when the sides squared off at the Huvepharma Arena.
Ghanaian forward Bernard Tekpetey netted in the ninth minute to hand the Bulgarians a dream start to the tie before Todor Nedelev doubled the lead from the penalty spot right on the stroke of half time.
With elimination staring them in the face, Minsk will need no extra motivation to produce a positive showing on Wednesday as they look to end their nine-year absence from European competitions.
Vadim Skripchenko's men's last appearance in Europe came in the 2015-16 campaign, when they lost five of their six matches in Group E of the Europa League to finish rock-bottom in the table with three points from a possible 18.
Minsk will fancy their chances of turning their first-leg deficit on its head as they return home, where they are unbeaten in their nine competitive games in 2024, picking up five wins and four draws so far.
On the other hand, following last week's victory, Ludogorets have now picked up seven wins in their last eight matches across all competitions since the start of pre-season in June.
This solid run of results has seen George Dermendzhiev's men launch their Bulgarian First Professional Football League title defence on a positive note as they edged out CSKA Sofia 1-0 in the season curtain-raiser on July 21.
Their only defeat since pre-season came on July 17, when they were beaten 1-0 by Dinamo Batumi in the second leg of their Champions League first qualifying round clash in Georgia.
However, a 3-1 first-leg victory at the Huvepharma Arena one week earlier was enough to see the Eagles through to the second round of the qualifiers as they secured a 3-2 aggregate win over the Georgian outfit.
While they have a two-goal lead in the bag heading into Wednesday's tie, Ludogorets will need to be at their best at the Mezokovesdi Varosi Stadion, given that they have lost each of their last three competitive away matches, conceding six goals while failing to find the back of the net.
Team News
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With Dinamo Minsk netting just one goal in their three qualifying matches, Skripchenko could ring a few changes to his frontline, with Pedro Igor and new signing Steven Alfred coming into the fray.
At the defensive end of the pitch, we should see an unchanged back four of Rai Lopes, Sergei Politevich, Dmitri Podstrelov and Vadim Pigas from the first leg, with Fedor Lapoukhov starting in between the sticks once again.
With his strike in last week's reverse leg, Tekpetey has now scored two goals in three matches in the qualifiers and we expect the 26-year-old to retain his role in the Ludogorets XI.
He should form the attacking trio with January signing Rwan Cruz and 24-year-old Rick, while the midfield partnership of Nedelev and Jakub Piotrowski could feature once again.
Portuguese centre-back Dinis Almeida has played all 270 minutes in the qualifiers and the 29-year-old should marshall the Ludogorets defence, with Aslak Fonn Witry, Olivier Verdon and skipper Anton Nedyalkov completing the back four.
Dinamo Minsk possible starting lineup:
Lapoukhov; Lopes, Gavrilovich, Politevich, Pigas; Demchenko, Selyava, Shkolik; Zherdev, Alfred, Melnichenko
Ludogorets Razgrad possible starting lineup:
Padt; Witry, Verdon, Almeida, Nedyalkov; Chochev, Nedelev, Piotrowski; Tekpetey, Cruz, Rick
We say: Dinamo Minsk 1-2 Ludogorets Razgrad
Having secured a two-goal advantage in the first leg, Ludogorets head into Wednesday's clash in the driver's seat and this should give them all the confidence they need at the Mezokovesdi Varosi Stadion.
While we expect Dinamo Minsk to go all out in search of a way back into the tie, we predict the Bulgarian outfit will come out tops once again, albeit by the odd goal this time.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
