Preview: KI Klaksvik vs. Molde - prediction, team news, lineups

Already guaranteed a place in one of Europe's three continental tournaments, Faroe Islands trailblazers KI Klaksvik continue their Champions League adventure when they host Molde in the first leg of their third-round qualifying tie on Tuesday night.

The hosts defeated Swedish outfit Hacken in a dramatic penalty shootout to reach this stage for the first time ever, while their Norwegian counterparts recovered from a first-leg deficit to eliminate HJK Helsinki.

Match preview

History is being made for a nation with a little over 50,000 inhabitants this summer, as Tuesday's game will see the pioneering KI Klaksvik will become the first-ever Faroese side to compete in the third round of Champions League qualifying.

The 20-time national champions stunned Ferencvaros 3-0 on aggregate in round one - being held to a goalless home draw before asserting their dominance in Hungary - and shades of that result were evident when Magne Hoseth's side faced Hacken in round two.

Once again playing out a scoreless stalemate on their own territory, KI netted another three goals away from home but were matched on the attacking front by Hacken, and a 12-yard shootout would be required to separate the two sides in Gothenburg.

After Mikkel Rygaard and Simon Sandberg had fluffed their lines, veteran defender Vegard Forren held his nerve to keep the Champions League fantasy alive for KI, who are now assured of a place in the Europa Conference League group stage at worst - a feat no other team from their nation has ever achieved before.

Hoseth's men have been granted a break from their Faroe Islands Premier League title defence in order to make waves in Europe, although their domestic rivals will be playing catch-up for a while, as the reigning champions opened their campaign with 16 wins from 16 before shocking the continental landscape.

Aiming to end the KI fairytale is a Molde side who know what it takes to reach the group stages of Europe's elite tournaments, having made the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League proper, while also progressing to the last-16 of the secondary competition in 2020-21.

One-time Champions League group-stage participants in the 1999-2000 season, Molde failed to make it out of their Europa Conference League section last year, and their continental adventure this time around was at risk of a premature end thanks to a 1-0 loss to HJK in their opening second-round affair.

However, Erling Moe's men turned the tie on its head last week and progressed to round three courtesy of goals from Kristian Eriksen and Ola Brynhildsen in the final 20 minutes, and as is the case with KI, Molde have also been a force to be reckoned with domestically in recent weeks.

Following an underwhelming start to their Eliteserien title defence, Molde have now won each of their last four top-flight games to rise into fourth place in the table, and they will soon compete in the semi-finals of the Norwegian Cup.

KI and Molde are not total strangers to one another, as the Norwegian side ran out 6-0 aggregate winners when the two sides clashed in the first round of qualifying for the 2003-04 UEFA Cup, so the Faroese champions have more than one incentive to keep their Champions League dream alive here.