Borac Banja Luka will travel to Slovenia for Thursday's second leg of their Conference League knockout round playoff tie against NK Olimpija Ljubljana.
The Bosnian visitors will head into the return leg with a narrow advantage after recording a 1-0 victory at the Banja Luka City Stadium last weekend.
Match preview
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Olimpija are competing in the knockout rounds of a UEFA competition for the first time in their history after finishing in 14th place in the league phase.
Unfortunately for the Slovenian side, their first experience of a European knockout match resulted in a 1-0 defeat, representing their second away loss of the main draw.
They at least managed to return to winning ways in Sunday's Slovenian PrvaLiga game against Nafta, with Antonio Marin, Ivan Durdov and Raul Florucz all finding the net in a 3-0 victory, extending Olimpija's unbeaten league record to 10 matches and leaving them nine points clear at the top of the table.
Olimpija will put their quest for a fourth top-flight title on hold for Thursday's second leg, with the hosts tasked with overturning a first-leg deficit if they are to set up a last-16 meeting with Rapid Vienna or Fiorentina.
The hosts can take confidence from the fact that they have won five of their six home games in the Conference League this season (including qualifying), although they did slump to a 4-1 defeat in their most recent European home outing against Cercle Brugge.
They managed to record clean sheets in each of those five victories, and another strong defensive performance would give them every chance of turning the tie around in the second leg.
![Coach of Borac Banja Luka, Mladen Zizovic, during a press conference on July 23, 2024 [on August 27, 2024]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/35/mladen-zizovic.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Coach of Borac Banja Luka, Mladen Zizovic, during a press conference on July 23, 2024 [on August 27, 2024]")
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Borac Banja Luka progressed from a group stage/league phase of UEFA competition for the first time after they collected eight points from six matches to finish in 20th position.
The Bosnian champions went on to enjoy success in their first European knockout round appearance, taking advantage of Florucz's red card to pick up a 1-0 victory in last week's first leg against Olimpija thanks to Sandi Ogrinec's stoppage-time winner.
That result maintained Borac's unbeaten home record in this season's Conference League (W2, D2), while their defensive performance earned them back-to-back clean sheets in European home outings.
In contrast to Thursday's opponents, Mladen Zizovic's side did not have to worry about any domestic action at the weekend, giving them the luxury of a full week's preparation ahead of their trip to the Slovenian capital.
Borac might need to make full use of all that extra preparation time given the fact that they have lost two of their three away games in the 2024-25 Conference League.
After beating APOEL in their first away game of the Conference League main draw, they went on to lose 2-0 to Vikingur Reykjavik in Iceland before falling to a heavy 3-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers in the Republic of Ireland.
Team News
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The hosts remain without the services of forward Pedro Lucas, who has been out of action since November due to a knee injury.
Florucz may have found the net over the weekend, but he will be unable to take his place on the side after being sent off in the first leg.
Victor Sanchez could make a number of changes to the side that started the league win over Nafta, with Jorge Silva, Jurgen Celhaka, Agustin Doffo, Alejandro Blanco, Marko Brest and Alex Tamm all in contention to start the second leg.
As for Borac, they are unable to call upon Nikola Cetkovic and Damir Hrelja, while Luka Zoric is a doubt after he was forced off in the 23rd minute of the first leg.
After replacing Zoric in the first half, David Vukovic is now in contention to feature in the starting lineup in Slovenia.
Djordje Despotovic will continue to lead the line for the visitors, having scored 12 goals in 22 competitive appearances this season.
NK Olimpija Ljubljana possible starting lineup:
Vidovsek; Silva, Ratnik, Muhamedbegovic, Lasickas; Celhaka, Doffo; Blanco, Pinto, Brest; Tamm
Borac Banja Luka possible starting lineup:
Manojlovic; Kvrzic, Meijers, Carolina, Herrera; Nikolov, Ogrinec; Kulasin, Savic, Vukovoic; Despotovic
We say: NK Olimpija Ljubljana 2-0 Borac Banja Luka
Olimpija may have experienced disappointment in last week's away leg, but having won five of their six European home matches this season, we think that the hosts will draw upon home advantage to turn the tie in their favour.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
