Preview: NK Olimpija Ljubljana vs. Valmiera - prediction, team news, lineups

NK Olimpija Ljubljana take on Valmiera at Stadion Stozice on Tuesday evening, in the first round of qualification for the Champions League.

The hosts are playing in the competition for the fifth time, having last made it to this stage in 2018-19, with the visitors embarking on their first-ever campaign in Europe's elite competition.

Match preview

Ljubljana may have reached the Champions League qualifiers on five previous occasions, but they have never made it past the second qualifying round, and they will be looking to go further into the competition this time around.

The Green and Whites were only founded 18 years ago, but they have started to become a real force in recent years, winning three league titles and four Slovenian Cups, managing to do the double last season.

Joao Henriques has recently replaced Albert Riera as manager of the Slovenian champions, and he is tasked with following up a fantastic campaign, in which they amassed 73 points in 36 league games, winning the title by a six-point margin.

That said, Ljubljana did lose their last three matches of the league season, most recently falling to a 2-0 defeat at home against Celje, despite dominating the majority of the possession throughout the match.

Since then, however, Henriques' side have gone on to win five of their six friendly matches, defeating Rudar in comprehensive fashion last time out, romping home to a 4-0 victory.

Valmiera won the Latvian Higher League for the first time in their history in 2022, and after a long wait, they are finally embarking on their maiden Champions League campaign.

However, Jurgis Kalns's side are currently third in their ongoing league, 18 points behind second-placed Rigas Futbola Skola, so there may be some understandable trepidation heading into a tournament featuring some of Europe's elite sides.

The Latvian league runs from March to November, so Tuesday's visitors are not short of match practice, but they have not been in the best of form, winning just two of their last seven matches.

Most recently, however, Valmiera ran out 6-0 winners against Tukums 2000, with Gustavo Silva bagging a brace, which should give them some confidence heading into Tuesday's game.