Belgian outfit Royal Antwerp travel to Cyprus on Thursday to face Omonia in the first-leg of their Europa League qualification campaign, after last season finishing third in the Championship round which follows the conclusion of the Belgian First Division A.
Omonia enter this stage of the Europa League as they were knocked out of Champions League qualification at the end of July, after initially finishing top of the Cypriot First Division, the first time the club has won their domestic league since 2010.
Match preview
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Omonia's league campaign has not started yet, meaning that the last time Henning Berg's side played was last week in the previous round of Europa League qualification, when they scraped past Estonian side Flora Tallinn.
The Cypriot outfit won the first leg at home thanks to an early strike from 20-year-old winger Marinos Tzionis, but after a seemingly perfect start to the second leg when Andronikos Kakoullis put Omonia 2-0 ahead on aggregate, the side let their lead slip away.
Rauno Sappinen completed his brace two minutes from time which sent the game into extra time and eventually penalties, and the spot kicks were a close affair, Omonia coming out as 5-4 winners in the end.
Omonia qualified for the Europa League proper last season but finished fourth in Group E, although it was the first time the club had made it into that stage of the tournament, and they will be looking to emulate that again this year.
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Standing in Berg's side's way is Royal Antwerp, who last season progressed as far as the round of 32 stage in this competition, when they were eliminated by Steven Gerrard's Rangers.
That tie was full of goals eventually ending 9-5 to the Scottish champions on aggregate, but it was the furthest that the Belgian side had gone in their Europa League history.
After finishing third in their domestic Championship round, Brian Priske's side go straight into this round of qualifying, but enter Thursday's fixture after a not so convincing start to their league campaign.
Antwerp started their season with two consecutive defeats and have only managed one win in their first four games, which came away from home against Standard Liege.
In their last outing on Friday, Antwerp had to settle for a 1-1 draw as Anass Zaroury equalised for the home side after Viktor Fischer had put Antwerp 1-0 up heading into half time.
Given Antwerp's success at progressing from the group stage last term, they go into the tie against Omonia as strong favourites and are further into their league season, suggesting that they will be sharper on Thursday.
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Team News
Berg tends to opt for a 4-4-2 formation with Loizos Loizou and Kakoullis expected to lead the line for the home side, especially after youngster Kakoullis scored in the last round.
The midfield four consisting of Eric Bautheac, Jordi Gomez, Mix Diskerud and Tzionis was unchanged for the two legs in the previous round of Europa League qualification, and that unit is expected to remain the same again.
Goalkeeper Fabiano was one of the key players against Flora as he saved the all-important final penalty in the shootout, and he will take confidence from that looking to keep a clean sheet against Antwerp.
Swiss striker Frey scored all five goals in Antwerp's only win of the season so far and has immediately made a positive imprint on his new fans, having only joined the club this summer.
Priske has named the same starting 11 for the last two outings and the results have improved since the opening two defeats, and the Danish manager is expected to continue with that same lineup.
Royal Antwerp have two players in the physio room at this early stage of the season, 21-year-old Bruny Nsimba and Sander Coopman, who have not featured for the side this campaign due to injury.
Omonia possible starting lineup:
Fabiano; Kiko, Panayiotou, Lang, Shehu; Tzionis, Gomez, Diskerud, Bautheac; Kakoullis, Loizou
Royal Antwerp possible starting lineup:
Butez; Bataille, De Laet, Seck, Buta; Yusef, Verstraete; Fischer, Gerkens, Benson; Frey
We say: Omonia 1-2 Royal Antwerp
Royal Antwerp have not kept a clean sheet yet in their league campaign which will give the home side confidence that they can get on the scoresheet on Thursday.
However, Omonia have shown their defensive frailties and lost their last game in the 90 minutes, taking away the aggregate score, meaning that Antwerp will believe they can take the first advantage in this two-legged tie.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Royal Antwerp win with a probability of 43.92%. A win for Omonia had a probability of 31.88% and a draw had a probability of 24.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Royal Antwerp win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.1%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.32%) and 0-2 (6.75%). The likeliest Omonia win was 2-1 (7.56%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.21%). The actual scoreline of 4-2 was predicted with a 0.9% likelihood.
