Turkish outfit Trabzonspor welcome Austrian side Rapid Vienna to Papara Park for the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie on Thursday evening.
Both teams will meet for the very first time and are vying to advance to the main stage of the newly-expanded 2024-25 Europa League.
Match preview
Trabzonspor secured a safe passage through to the third qualifying round after beating Slovakian side MFK Ruzomberok 3-0 on aggregate in the previous round.
A 2-0 first-leg victory was followed by a narrow 1-0 home win in the reverse fixture last Thursday, courtesy of a second-half strike from Denis Dragus - one of nine new summer signings to date.
Manager Abdullah Avci was pleased with his side's dominant display across both legs as well as keeping two clean sheets, but the 61-year-old is keen to see his team convert more of the chances that they create in the final third.
Trabzonspor, who are gearing up for their 50th successive season in the Turkish top flight, finished third in the Super Lig last season and are now bidding to reach for the 2024-25 Europa League after failing to qualify for European competition in the previous campaign.
The Black Sea Storm have struggled to make their mark on the continental stage having advanced to the knockout rounds just once before in both the Europa League and Europa Conference League, while also experiencing one Champions League group-stage campaign in 2011-12. They last competed in the former competition two seasons ago when they were eliminated in the group stage.
Rapid Vienna have made a perfect start to their 2024-25 campaign as they have won all four competitive matches in all competitions, scoring 11 goals and conceding only two in the process.
The Green-Whites cruised to an 8-2 aggregate victory over Wisla Krakow - including a thumping 6-1 second-leg win last Thursday - in the second qualifying round of the Europa League to set up their meeting with Trabzonspor.
In between that two-legged tie, Rapid Vienna began their domestic campaign with a 2-0 win over lower-league outfit Neusiedl in the first round of the Austrian Cup, and they have since extended their winning streak after beating defending Austrian Bundesliga champions Sturm Graz 1-0 on home soil in their opening league fixture on Sunday.
Head coach Robert Klauss admitted after the match that he was "happy" his Rapid Vienna side did not win by a bigger margin "because the praise is too high for me at the moment".
Nevertheless, the 39-year-old is "very satisfied" with his team's bright start to the new season and is now preparing his players for a tricky Europa League test against Trabzonspor where he expects the home fans make their stomping ground "a cauldron".
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Team News
After failing to score a single goal in 33 appearances on loan at Cadiz last season, forward Maxi Gomez has since returned to Trabzonspor but has not been selected in their Europa League qualifying squad along with the likes of Umut Bozok, Taxiarchis Fountas and Huseyin Turkmen.
New signing Stefan Savic is in contention to make his debut at centre-back, but it remains to be seen whether he will be thrown straight into the starting lineup at the expense of either Batista Mendy or Stefano Denswil.
Fellow new recruits Pedro Malheiro, John Lundstram, Ozan Tufan, Cihan Canak and Denis Dragus were all handed starts last time out and could retain their places in the first XI on Thursday.
As for Rapid Vienna, Thierry Gale, Ismail Seydi, Ferdy Druijf and Bernhard Zimmermann are all sidelined with knee injuries, while new signing Jakob Scholler is a fitness doubt.
Augsburg loanee Dion Beljo has scored three goals in four games so far this season, including the match-winner against Sturm Graz last time out, and he is expected to lead the line once again on Thursday.
Guido Burgstaller scored a 35-minute hat-trick in the aforementioned second-leg rout of Wisla Krakow in the second qualifying round and is set to support Beljo in attack, while Isak Jansson, Mamadou Sangare and Serge-Philippe Raux-Yao - all new signings this summer - could retain their places in the first XI.
Trabzonspor possible starting lineup:
Cakir; Malheiro, Mendy, Denswil, Elmali; Tufan, Lundstram; Visca, Canak, Trezeguet; Dragus
Rapid Vienna possible starting lineup:
Hedl; Oswald, Cvetkovic, Raux-Yao, Auer; Sangare, Grgic; Jansson, Seidl; Burgstaller, Beljo
We say: Trabzonspor 2-1 Rapid Vienna
Trabzonspor cannot take Rapid Vienna lightly considering their strong start to the new campaign, but the Turks will still be regarded as favourites for Thursday's contest and should do enough to take a slender advantage into next week's second leg.
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