Zorya Luhansk will be looking to overturn a two-goal deficit when they host Slavia Prague in their Europa League playoff. Sunday’s league match ended in a 1-1 draw for both teams. If the Ukrainians are to advance in Europe, they must snap a three-game losing streak.
Preview (Zorya Luhansk vs. Slavia Prague)
It is fair to say that Slavia Prague ought to have ended the match last week. The Czech team had 65% of the ball and 27 shots in the first leg. They limited Zorya to just one chance on goal at Fortuna Arena. A clean sheet was maintained by the visitors despite the hosts’ constant pressure up until the 81st minute. Muhamed Tijani, a substitute, scored the opening goal and Lukas Masopust added the insurance in stoppage time. In the Ukrainian Premier League, Zorya is now six points behind table-topping Shakhtar Donetsk after a 1-1 draw. Zorya has only managed to win one of their six games overall this season, losing three times in the process.
It gets worse for Nenad Lalatovic’s team because they have only scored once in their last three games. They need to score at least two goals to qualify for the Europa League this season. Slavia Prague, on the other hand, has had a tremendously outstanding start to the season. They are still unbeaten in 2023–24 after picking up seven victories and two draws across all competitions. On Sunday, Jablonec held the Czech team to a 1-1 draw, giving them their first domestic point loss of the year. However, Jindrich Trpisovsky’s team has taken 16 out of a possible 18 points to keep up with archrival Sparta Prague.
Funny enough, in the previous round of Europa League qualification, the Slavists eliminated another Ukrainian team, Dnipro-1, and advanced to the playoffs with a 4-1 overall victory. Slavia Prague will be optimistic of completing the task at the Arena Lublin on Thursday after recording two victories and one draw in Europa League qualification thus far, scoring six goals and preserving two clean sheets.
Team News
Defenders Oleg Danchenko, Bogdan Butko, and Maksym Smiyan, along with goalkeeper Dmytro Matsapura, are among a number of Zorya Luhansk players out with injury. In order to make a comeback, Nenad Lalatovic will likely choose an attacking 4-3-3 system, therefore Denys Antyukh, Eduardo Guerrero, and Roman Vantukh should start in the forward line, with Oleksandr Yatsyk manning the anchor position in the middle. Sheriff Sinyan, Oscar Dorley, and David Pech are all scheduled to miss the second leg due to injury, while Stanislav Tecl and Taras Kacharaba are ineligible. Slavia Prague also has a number of injury absentees.
Jindrich Trpisovsky will continue to use his preferred 3-4-3 formation despite Slavia’s lead, so Matej Jurasek, Mojmir Chytil, and Ivan Schranz will continue to take the initiative. Given that Slavia Prague has won seven games and drawn two others this season while remaining unbeaten, we anticipate the Czech team to defeat Zorya Luhansk easily once more.
Zorya Luhansk 1 – 3 Slavia Prague
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