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Sports Mole previews Thursday's Europa Conference League clash between Rigas Futbola Skola and Linfield, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Rigas Futbola Skola welcome Linfield to the Daugavas Stadion in the first leg of their Europa Conference League qualifying tie on Thursday.

The home side saw off Hibernians in the previous stage of the qualifiers, while the visitors are only turning their attention to the Conference League having seen their Europa League dreams ended by FC Zurich.

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Match preview

Rigas Futbola Skola eased past the challenge of Tukums 2000 on Sunday afternoon to breeze through into the semi-finals of the Viensviens Football Cup

Viktors Morozs's men opened the scoring through Bill but were pegged back by Ibrahima Sow early in the second half, after which goals from Emerson Santana, Deniss Rakels and Andrej Ilic got the job done.

Just before that, the Latvian champions secured a 3-1 victory away at Hibernians to claim a 4-2 victory on aggregate off the back of a 1-1 stalemate in the first leg.

Coming up next for them is a huge step towards securing European football for the first time ever following unsuccessful attempts in each of the last three seasons.

Having recently seen their 10-game unbeaten streak on home turf come to an end, Thursday's visitors will be keen to make it up to their supporters with a dominant display here.

Linfield opened their domestic campaign with a huge bang courtesy of a resounding 4-0 triumph over Portadown at the Windsor Park on Sunday.

Goals from Kirk Millar, Ethan Devine, Eetu Vertainen and Andrew Clarke got the job done for David Healy's men in the Northern Irish capital.

This came off the back of three consecutive defeats for the Blues - the most recent of which was a 3-0 thrashing by Zurich in the return leg of the sides' Europa League qualifier.

With 11 goals conceded across their last two European involvement on the road, Thursday's visitors will need to be wary of being on the receiving end of another continental embarrassment away from home.

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Team News

Emerson Santana found the back of the net within minutes of coming on as a substitute last time out, and the Brazilian could be rewarded with a place in the starting XI here.

With four goals in his last four games for Rigas Futbola Skola, 22-year-old Andrej Ilic is definitely one to look out for in Thursday's contest.

Kirk Millar was shown a red card in his last continental affair away from home, and the forward will be aiming to have a more meaningful impact for his team this time.

Andrew Clarke will be pushing to get the nod right from the off in this one, as the forward has made just one starting appearance since the turn of the year.

Rigas Futbola Skola possible starting lineup:
Steinbors; Mares, Lipuscek, Jagodinskis, Vlalukin; Santana, Panic, Jatta, Friesenbichler; Ilic, Kouadio

Linfield possible starting lineup:
Johns; Clarke, Roscoe, Newberry, Finlayson; Palmer, Mulgrew, Pepper; Cooper, McKee, McClean

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We say: Rigas Futbola Skola 2-1 Linfield

Both teams will be pushing to steal a march on each other here ahead of the return leg next week. We are anticipating an enthralling affair here with the home side just about fending off the challenge of their visitors.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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