FC Differdange 03 will welcome KI Klaksvik at the Stade Parc des Sports on Wednesday for the second of their two-legged bout in the first round of Champions League qualifying.
The hosts find themselves trailing 2-0 after their first-leg defeat, despite having the better share of goalscoring opportunities throughout the entirety of the match.
Match preview
Differdange will be extremely disappointed to find themselves 2-0 down coming into their home leg of this tie after they had a number of chances to get on the scoresheet in the away leg last week.
Pedro Resende's side enjoyed more possession and took more shots at goal than their opponents, and despite coming close on several occasions, most notably hitting the crossbar in the first half, they were unable to capitalise on their dominance.
That marked their second successive defeat in all competitions, the first time they have lost back-to-back matches since losses to Jeunesse Esch and Progres Niederkorn in April and May 2023.
Resende will be hoping his side can make the most of their home advantage in the second leg as they look to get back into the game and progress into the second round of qualifying.
Their home record has been their biggest strength in recent times, winning 12 and drawing three of their 15 home matches last season as they went unbeaten at the Stade Parc des Sports in the league.
The visitors, however, have been a formidable force when playing on the road in their domestic league in recent seasons, losing just nine times away from home across the last five campaigns.
Espen Haug's team became the first Faroese side to play in any European group football last year when they qualified for the Europa Conference League group stage, while they also came within two rounds of competing in the Champions League.
Aggregate victories over Ferencvaros and BK Hacken in the first two rounds set them up against Molde in the third round, which ended in a narrow 3-2 defeat after two legs.
KI made a perfect start to their Champions League return this season with a 2-0 victory last week, courtesy of two first-half goals from Arni Frederiksberg, the first a moment of individual brilliance and the second from the penalty spot just before half time.
The visitors will now be looking to extend their current three-match winning streak and secure their place in the second round of qualifying in the process.
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Team News
Despite a defeat in the first leg, Resende will be happy with his team's performance in that game and could opt to name the same starting 11 for this one.
Portuguese striker Jorginho is likely to lead the line once again for his side, and the forward will be looking to return to the scoring form that saw him net 28 times across all competitions in his debut campaign for the club last year.
As for the visitors, they are likely to start in the same 3-4-3 system that saw them take a 2-0 victory away from the first game, with the front three expected to remain as Joseph Williams, Pall Klettskard and Frederiksberg.
Deni Pavlovic and Albert Ejupi are also expected to continue their partnership in the middle of the park after they successfully limited Differdange to largely taking shots from outside the area in the first leg.
FC Differdange 03 possible starting lineup:
Felipe; D'Anzico, Brusco, Bedouret; Franzoni, Rauch, Trani, Da Silva, Pruzzo; Santos, Jorginho
KI Klaksvik possible starting lineup:
Jensen; Berntsson, Yambere, Petersen; Kronberg, Pavlovic, Ejupi, Da Silva; Williams, Klettskard, Frederiksberg
We say: FC Differdange 03 1-1 KI Klaksvik (KI to win 3-1 on aggregate)
Despite dominating large parts of the first game, Differdange were unable to get themselves on the scoresheet and now have the difficult task of overturning a two-goal deficit.
We expect this match to follow a similar trend to the reverse fixture with the hosts having a majority of the chances, but ultimately we expect KI to hold on to their aggregate lead and progress into the next round.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
