On Tuesday, Sparta Prague will welcome Swedish side Malmo to the Czech Republic for the second leg of a Champions League playoff tie.
Sparta are on the brink of reaching the Champions League main draw after recording a 2-0 victory on last week's trip to Malmo.
Match preview
Sparta ousted Shamrock Rovers and FCSB in their previous two qualifying ties to set up a playoff round meeting with the champions of Sweden.
They enjoyed a successful trip to Malmo for last week's first leg, with an own goal and a Matej Rynes effort proving enough to clinch a 2-0 away victory.
As a result of that win, the reigning Czech First League champions are now just one game from reaching the Champions League main draw for the first time since 2005-06.
They will enter Tuesday's contest off the back of a 2-2 league draw against Slovacko which extended their unbeaten start to the 2024-25 season to 11 matches (W9, D2).
Sparta can also take confidence from the fact that they have put together an 11-game unbeaten home run in all competitions since losing 5-1 to Liverpool in March.
Meanwhile, Malmo began their European campaign with a 6-4 aggregate win over KI, before they recorded a 6-5 after extra time against PAOK to progress to the final qualifying round.
After scoring 12 goals in their last four European matches, Henrik Rydstrom's side would have been disappointed to draw a blank in last Wednesday's home meeting with Sparta.
The Swedish outfit now have their work cut out if they are to overturn a two-goal deficit and reach the Champions League main draw for the first time since 2021-22.
The Allvenskan leaders prepared for their midweek trip to Prague with an underwhelming 2-2 draw against relegation-threatened Kalmar.
Unfortunately for Malmo, they have tended to struggle on their travels in UEFA's elite club competition, having failed to win any of their previous eight Champions League away matches in regulation time.
Team News
Sparta may have to cope without the services of Imanol Garcia, Roman Mokrovics and David Pavelka due to injury.
After making several changes for Saturday's league game, Lars Friis could be tempted to revert back to the same side that started the first leg.
Victor Olatunji is poised to lead the line for the hosts, and he will be looking to add to the two European goals that he has already scored this season.
As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon the injured trio of Niklas Moisander, Anton Tinnerholm and Stefano Vecchia.
Nils Zatterstrom, Sebastian Nanasi, Sergio Pena and Isaac Kiese Thelin are all in contention to return to the starting lineup after dropping down to the bench on Saturday.
Botheim has scored 10 goals in 20 league appearances this year, and he will hope to take that form onto the European stage as he looks to find the net in UEFA competition for the first time this season.
Sparta Prague possible starting lineup:
Vindahl; Vitik, Panak, Sorensen; Preciado, Laci, Kairinen, Rynes; Birmancevic, Haraslin, Olatunji
Malmo possible starting lineup:
Dahlin; Stryger Larsen, Jansson, Zatterstrom, Busanello; Bolin, Pena, Johnsen, Nanasi; Kiese Thelin, Botheim
We say: Sparta Prague 2-1 Malmo
Sparta took a giant leap to the main draw with their successful trip to Sweden, and we think that they will make full use of home advantage to record a second-leg victory to seal their spot in the league phase and leave Malmo to settle for a Europa League spot.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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