After a dramatic first leg in the Netherlands, Slavia Prague and Feyenoord will do battle for a place in the Europa Conference League semi-finals on Thursday, when they complete their quarter-final tie in the Czech capital.
Thursday's hosts scored in the dying embers to come into the home leg on level terms, with the game now totally in the balance.
Match preview
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After finishing second in their Europa Conference League group, behind their quarter-final opponents, Slavia Prague had to go through two knockout rounds to reach the final eight, firstly seeing off Fenerbahce in a two-legged playoff.
That booked them a round-of-16 meeting with LASK, and, after a 4-1 home win courtesy of a Yira Sor brace and goals from Peter Olayinka and Ibrahim Traore, a narrow 4-3 away loss was enough to secure their progression.
Having been drawn against their group winners, Jindrich Trpisovsky's side firstly faced the daunting task of a trip to the Netherlands last week, and, after going behind early, they took a 2-1 lead through Olayinka and Sor, before the hosts again turned the game on its head.
The Czech outfit looked set to fall to a 3-2 defeat in Rotterdam, only for Traore to pop up with a 95th-minute equaliser to bring the tie back to Prague on level terms.
Now with confidence on the back of a 4-0 league win at the weekend to move back to the summit of the Czech top flight, the Cervenobili will aim to make use of home advantage and pick up a second-leg victory to book their place in the semi-finals.
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Their opponents will arrive looking to complete the job that they could not do in the first leg, despite dominating for large stretches.
Having won their group with four wins and two draws, including a 2-1 home triumph over Slavia Prague, the Dutch outfit entered the knockout stage in the round of 16, and they cruised past Partizan, eventually earning an 8-3 aggregate victory.
Such a win saw Arne Slot's side again meet the Czech outfit, and they took a lead through Luis Sinisterra, and, after their opponents came from behind, Marcos Senesi and Orkun Kokcu put De Stadionclub back in the ascendancy.
Having been pegged back again at the death, the Dutch outfit will make the trip with plenty of work to do to seal their progression, but they will be encouraged by their performance at the weekend, having overturned an early deficit to thrash Heracles 4-1 thanks to goals from Kokcu, Reiss Nelson, Guus Til and Patrik Walemark.
With that victory having strengthened their position in third place in the Eredivisie, De Stadionclub will look to pick up another continental win on their travels to further add to their impressive campaign with a place in the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League.
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Team News
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After an impressive display away from home last week and a strong run through early knockout rounds, Slavia Prague are unlikely to make many changes to their starting XI, although centre-back Aiham Ousou and left-back Srdan Plavsic will both return to contention after they served suspensions in the first leg.
Yira Sor will continue to lead the line, having taken his tally to six goals alongside three assists in five Conference League appearances, all six of which coming since the beginning of the playoff round.
Ibrahim Traore and Peter Olayinka also added to their tallies last time out, and the threatening duo will again support the frontman.
Feyenoord are set to remain without Lutsharel Geertruida and Justin Bijlow, as the pair continue to deal with injuries.
Winger Luis Sinisterra has enjoyed a productive season, netting 20 goals and providing 11 assists in all competitions so far, and he will again be a danger man on the left flank.
Elsewhere, Arsenal loanee Reiss Nelson should keep his place while Orkun Kokcu provides another goal threat from midfield.
Genk loanee Cyriel Dessers will battle to lead the line after Bryan Linssen was preferred to lead the attack for the first leg.
Slavia Prague possible starting lineup:
Kolar; Bah, Kudela, Ousou, Dorley; Talovyerov, Holes; Schranz, Traore, Olayinka; Sor
Feyenoord possible starting lineup:
Marciano; Pedersen, Trauner, Senesi, Malacia; Til, Kokcu, Aursnes; Nelson, Dessers, Sinisterra
We say: Slavia Prague 2-3 Feyenoord (Feyenoord win 6-5 on aggregate)
After such an eventful first leg, we envisage another high-scoring affair in Prague with so much at stake.
While they were eventually unable to make use of home advantage and take a lead, Feyenoord were the better side for large portions, and we ultimately expect their quality to shine through on Thursday.
Sam Varley
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Feyenoord win with a probability of 39.42%. A win for Slavia Prague had a probability of 35.08% and a draw had a probability of 25.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Feyenoord win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.08%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.59%) and 0-2 (6.46%). The likeliest Slavia Prague win was 1-0 (8.47%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.06%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 4.1% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Feyenoord would win this match.
