Turkish giants Besiktas travel to Switzerland to face Lugano at the Stockhorn Arena for the first leg of their Europa League playoff tie on Thursday night.
The winners of this two-legged tie will secure their place in the newly-expanded 36-team Europa League, while the losers will drop down into the Conference League.
Match preview
After competing in the Conference League group stage last season, Lugano are now vying to progress to the Europa League proper for just the third time in their history and for the first time in five years.
The Bianconeri finished second in the Swiss Super League last season and began the 2024-25 campaign with three successive top-flight wins, before losing 3-2 at home to Luzern on matchday four just under a fortnight ago.
Mattia Croci-Torti's side have had to balance their early season domestic schedule with fixtures on the continent; they started off competing in the Champions League qualifiers, but they were beaten 6-4 on aggregate to Fenerbahce at the end of last month.
Avoiding further heartache against another Turkish opponent in Besiktas is now high on the agenda for Lugano, who after dropping down in the Europa League beat Partizan Belgrade 3-2 on aggregate in the third qualifying round, following up a 1-0 first-leg win on the road with a 2-2 second-leg draw on home soil last week.
Lugano have since put lower-league outfit Bruhl to the sword 7-1 in the first round of the Swiss Cup on Sunday, a morale-boosting victory that has put them in buoyant mood ahead of Thursday's clash with Besiktas.
After being forced to settle for sixth place in the Turkish Super Lig last season, finishing a remarkable 46 points behind champions Galatasaray, Besiktas have made an impressive start to the new campaign, kicking off with a statement 5-0 win over Galatasaray in the Turkish Super Cup.
The Black Eagles have since picked up maximum points in their opening two top-flight matches, following up a routine 2-0 win over Samsunspor with a 4-2 victory against Antalyaspor in their first home fixture of the new season last weekend.
Despite falling behind in the first 23 seconds, Besiktas turned the game on its head courtesy of a 23-minute brace from new signing Ciro Immobile, before fellow new recruit Rafa Silva and Ernest Muci got their names on the scoresheet to preserve the club's perfect start to 2024-25.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst has had plenty for smile about since taking charge of Besiktas in June, and the Dutchman is now focused on Thursday's meeting with Lugano as the Black Eagles endeavour to qualify for the Europa League proper for the first time since 2019-20.
Team News
Lugano will be without suspended defender Albian Hajdari, who was sent off in the previous round against Partizan, so either Ayman El Wafi or Lukas Mai are set to deputise at centre-back alongside Antonios Papadopoulos.
Mattia Bottani returned to the matchday squad against Bruhl last weekend after recovering from a muscle injury and the experienced midfielder is in contention to feature in some capacity on Thursday.
Kacper Przybylko scored a hat-trick last time out, taking his goal tall for the season to five in eight games, and he will battle with Ignacio Aliseda and Shkelqim Vladi for a start as the central striker.
As for Besiktas, Emrecan Terzi and Arda Kilic both remain sidelined with respective knee and ankle injuries, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Daniel Amartey, Oguzhan Akgun and Abdullah Aydin have all been omitted from their Europa League squad.
Arthur Masuaku could be recalled at left-back at the expense of Emirhan Topcu, while Gabriel Paulista and Omar Colley are set to continue their partnership at the heart of defence.
New signings Immobile and Rafa have scored seven goals between them in just three games and they are both expected to start in attack on Thursday along with wingers Milot Rashica and Semih Kilicsoy.
Lugano possible starting lineup:
Saipi; Zanotti, Papadopoulos, El Wafi, Valenzuela; Doumbia, Grgic; Steffen, Bislimi, Dos Santos; Przybylko
Besiktas possible starting lineup:
Gunok; Svensson, Paulista, Colley, Masuaku; Fernandes, Al-Msurati; Rashica, Rafa, Kilicsoy; Immobile
We say: Lugano 1-3 Besiktas
Both sides have looked strong in front of goal at the start of this season, so we could be in for a contest filled with final-third action. However, considering the form of Besiktas and the strength that they have throughout their squad, we believe that they will find a way to prevail in the first leg.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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