Sivasspor host an in-form Fiorentina side on Thursday in the second leg of their Europa Conference League last 16 tie.
Riza Calimbay's team lost the first leg in Florence 1-0 but were fortunate to only concede Antonin Barak's second-half volley after weathering an onslaught of Fiorentina chances.
Match preview
Last week's clash between Sivasspor and Fiorentina produced the most shots of all the first legs from the Conference League round of 16 - however, the Italian hosts rattled off 21 of the 29 efforts on the night, failing to bolster their tally through a combination of poor finishing and bad luck.
Sivasspor's good fortune did not carry over to the club's subsequent league outing as Calimbay was left to bemoan the "unlucky" goals his side conceded in a 3-0 reverse away to Istanbulspor on Monday.
Calimbay also considered Max Gradel to be unfortunate when he received a pair of yellow cards in rapid succession for two counts of dissent at the end of the league loss - yet, it was Gradel's second dismissal in four days as frustration got the better of the veteran winger when lashed out at Fiorentina's Lucas Martinez Quarta in stoppage time, earning a reckless red card.
Sivasspor have lost all three of their matches since Turkish clubs resumed the season after the devastating earthquakes in the region, leaving Calimbay's side within the reconstructed relegation zone as Hatayspor have been spared demotion after withdrawing from the league given the destruction inflicted by the natural disasters.
However, the Sivas-based outfit have not played a home game since defeating title-chasing Besiktas at Yeni 4 Eylul in February and will return to familiar surroundings this midweek.
Fiorentina have not been influenced by location during a premium purple patch for La Viola, with Vincenzo Italiano's side winning their last five games across all competitions.
Cremonese were Fiorentina's latest victims, falling to a 2-0 defeat as Rolando Mandragora broke the deadlock in the first half before Arthur Cabral capped off a devastatingly slick passing move after the break.
Cabral has proven to be a potent striker in European competition as well as Serie A; in fact, the Brazilian ranks as the all-time top scorer in the short history of the Europa Conference League, boasting 18 goals in the third-tier continental competition.
Italiano bemoaned his side's lack of cutting edge against Sivasspor last week and warned that in Turkey he knows "it will be difficult and that we need to put in a different performance in front of goal".
Team News
Gradel will be suspended both domestically and for Fiorentina's European visit after consecutive red cards, the fifth and sixth of his club career.
Calimbay admitted that the eight changes he made for Sivasspor's league defeat to Istanbulspor were a mistake ahead of surely returning to something closer to his European XI this Thursday.
Robin Yalcin and Caner Osmanpasa are not expected to be part of any starting lineup until April at the earliest as they continue to recover from a pair of knee injuries, while Mustapha Yatabare remains a doubt after damaging his medial collateral ligament in a January meeting with Alanyaspor, a game in which the veteran striker had already scored twice.
Italiano was left "pretty angry" with a mysterious yellow card which his captain Cristiano Biraghi received in the closing stages of the first leg, ruling the left-back out of the trip to Sivas.
The injured Aleksa Terzic robs Italiano of one replacement for Biraghi, with the 23-year-old Luca Ranieri a potential option on the left side of Fiorentina's defence.
Sivasspor possible starting lineup:
Vural; Paluli, Goutas, Appindangoye, Ciftci; Cofie; Saiz, Arslan, Charisis, Yesilyurt; Caicedo
Fiorentina possible starting lineup:
Terracciano; Dodo, Martinez Quarta, Igor, Ranieri; Bonaventura, Amrabat, Castrovilli; Ikone, Jovic, Gonzalez
We say: Sivasspor 1-2 Fiorentina
If Fiorentina can replicate anywhere near the same quantity and quality of chances as they did in the first leg while, perhaps just as importantly, snuffing out Sivasspor's counter-attacking threat as effectively, Italiano's side will surely take their winning streak into the Conference League quarter-finals.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
