Sheriff Tiraspol will be looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the second leg of their Champions League first round qualifier when they take on SSC Farul at the Bolshaya Sportivnaya Arena on Tuesday.
The hosts are no strangers to the continental club competitions, having participated in these qualifiers in each of the last 20 seasons, while the visitors are aiming to make it to the main draw at the first time of asking.
Match preview
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Roberto Bordin would have been frustrated with the result in the first leg as his side dominated the match, firing 19 shots at goal but unable to find the net once, while they conceded to a tame effort from David Kiki just before the hour mark.
Sheriff Tiraspol earned their eighth consecutive Moldovan National Division title last season, finishing six points ahead of Petrocub in the regular season before going unbeaten in the Championship round with seven wins and three draws in 10 matches.
They have been an ever-present in these qualifiers over the past two decades but only got to the group stages once in their last 20 attempts, which came in the 2021-22 season when they finished third.
That was the same season that they managed a famous win over Real Madrid, but it was not enough to see them remain in the competition, while their subsequent Europa League match ended in defeat to Braga.
Bordin's side were knocked out in the final round of qualifying last season and finished third in their Europa League group before losing to Nice in the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League.
While they are a goal down, the hosts will still be fancied to turn this tie around as they come into this match carrying a home record of nine games unbeaten while maintaining an impressive six clean sheets in that time.
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Meanwhile, SSC Farul are making only their second appearance in these qualifiers in their history, with their solitary previous run ending in the second round back in the 2017-18 season, when they were beaten 4-1 on aggregate by APOEL.
They won their maiden Romanian Liga 1 title last season, holding off perennial winners CFR Cluj by a single point in the regular season while managing to extend their advantage to seven points after the playoff round.
Ex-Galatasaray and Barcelona player Gheorghe Hagi, who now manages SSC Farul, has improved the Romanian outfit significantly since his appointment in 2021, especially in defence, where they ended last season with the league's best record of just 28 goals conceded in 30 games during the regular season.
With the Romanian Liga 1 season already underway, the visitors will have just a three-day turnaround from their first league match, which ended in a 1-0 win against Hermannstadt in midweek, with Constantin Grameni grabbing the decisive goal in the 57th minute.
Team News
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Rasheed Akanbi will miss out for a few more weeks for Bordin's side as the winger continues his recovery following an injury he picked up late last season.
Kostas Apostolakis was taken off in the first leg after failing to impress in the wing-back role, and that could mean that Adamou Ibrahim Djibo starts in his place behind Joao Paulo on the left flank.
Hagi made as many as 10 changes to the starting side that he put out against Hermannstadt in midweek, with only Andrei Artean keeping his place, and we should see most of the players that contested the first leg to step back in for this one.
Grameni's goal off the bench in the last match means that he is now the only forward to have scored for SSC Farul this season, and he will be hoping to make the starting 11 here alongside Denis Alibec and Adrian Mazilu in a three-man frontline.
Sheriff Tiraspol possible starting lineup:
Koval; Tovar, Garananga, Bueno, Zohouri, Djibo; Talal, Kyabou, Paulo; Luvannor, Mbekeli
SSC Farul possible starting lineup:
Aioani; Kiki, Popescu, Boli, Borza; Artean, Nedelcu, Baluta; Alibec, Grameni, Mazilu
We say: Sheriff Tiraspol 2-0 SSC Farul
While the hosts lost the first leg, they dominated almost every aspect of the match except for the scoreline. Having had a full week to assess where they went wrong in that match, we expect Bordin's men to bounce back in style here and secure their qualification to round two.
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