HJK Helsinki will be aiming to book their spot in the second qualifying round of the Champions League when they travel to Rigas Futbola Skola for the second leg of their contest on Tuesday night.
The visitors are in a strong position to reach the next stage of the competition due to a 1-0 victory in the first leg of their clash last week, with Manuel Martic on the scoresheet for the Finnish outfit.
Match preview
RFS won last year's Latvian Higher League to secure their spot in the Champions League first qualifying round, but they have a huge task to advance to the next stage, having suffered a 1-0 loss to HJK in the first leg last week.
Rigas won their first ever Latvian Higher League title last year, finishing with 66 points from their 28 matches, and they are bidding to make the group stage of the Champions League for the first time in their history.
Viktors Morozs's side were eliminated in the first qualifying round of both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 Europa League campaigns, but they reached the third qualifying round of the 2021-22 Europa Conference League, losing 3-2 on aggregate to Belgian outfit Gent.
RFS are 20 matches into their domestic league campaign, sitting second in the table with 45 points, while they will enter this game off the back of a 4-0 win over Spartaks Jurmala in the Latvian Cup on Saturday.
The Latvian side have actually won three of their last four matches in all competitions, scoring 10 times in the process, but they have it all to do on Tuesday due to their 1-0 first-leg loss to HJK.
The visitors played in the Europa Conference League last season but were unable to progress past the group stage, finishing third in their section, which saw them face LASK, Alashkert and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
HJK are the most successful side in the history of Finnish football, having won the top division on 31 occasions, with their success last season seeing them qualify for the first qualifying round of the Champions League.
Toni Koskela's side were eliminated in the second qualifying round of the Champions League last season, losing 4-3 on aggregate to Malmo, but they did play in the group stage of the 1998-99 European Cup and are the only Finnish side to have played in the Champions League proper.
HJK are also well into their domestic league season, playing 14 times, picking up 27 points from their 14 matches, which has left them second in the table, three points behind KuPS.
The Finnish outfit have not played since the first leg, though, with their next league game set to take place against VPS on July 16, so they should be in good shape for the second leg with Rigas.
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Team News
Rigas have not reported any fresh injury problems from the first leg last week, so it would not be a surprise to see the majority of the XI take to the field once again.
Emerson will once again play in the final third, but there could be a change in an attacking area, with Renars Varslavans potentially taking the place of Kevin Friesenbichler.
Andrej Ilic has been in strong form for RFS this season, finding the back of the net on 12 occasions in the league, and the 22-year-old will again be in the starting lineup on Tuesday.
As for HJK, former Celtic goalkeeper Conor Hazard played between the sticks in the first leg, and he is again expected to take to the field on Tuesday night.
The visitors have not been in action since the first leg, and the club have not reported any fitness issues, so head coach Koskela could send an unchanged side onto the field.
HJK played a 3-4-3 formation against Rigas in the first match and that is again expected to be the case here, with on-loan striker Bojan Radulovic leading the line.
Rigas Futbola Skola possible starting lineup:
Cerniauskas; Sorokins, Jagodinskis, Lipuscek, Mares; Panic, Zjuzins; Varslavans, Saric, Emerson; Ilic
HJK Helsinki possible starting lineup:
Hazard; Raitala, Hoskonen, Tenho; Peltola, Vaananen, Martic, Murilo; Soiri, Radulovic, Olusanya
We say: Rigas Futbola Skola 1-2 HJK Helsinki
Rigas are certainly capable of turning the tie around on home soil, but we are finding it difficult to back the Latvian side on Tuesday night. HJK have put themselves in a strong position to progress, and we are also expecting them to win the second leg in Riga to record a 3-1 aggregate success.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Matt Law
