Molde travel to the Polish capital on Thursday evening as they look to protect their slender 3-2 advantage over Legia Warsaw in the Conference League.
With a place in the quarter-finals at stake, both sides will believe that they are in with an excellent chance of progressing to the next stage of the competition.
Match preview
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The visitors looked as if they were all but through this tie when three first-half goals put them into a commanding 3-0 lead at the break in the first leg, but two goals in the second half from Legia has left the return leg in the balance.
With the Norwegian Eliteserien not due to start until the end of March, Molde have not played a competitive match outside of the Conference League since their Norwegian Cup final defeat to Fredrikstad on December 7.
The club parted ways with Erling Moe at the end of last season, and former Norway manager Per-Mathias Hogmo replaced him in the dugout at Aker Stadion.
After finishing fifth for the second year running and losing to Fredrikstad in the Norwegian Cup final, the club felt it was the right time to go in another direction.
Under their previous boss, Molde also struggled in the league phase of the Conference League, and they qualified as an unseeded team for the knockout phase playoffs after finishing 23rd in the standings.
A 1-0 defeat at home to Shamrock Rovers left Molde on the brink of elimination in the playoff round, but they turned it around in the Republic of Ireland with a 1-0 triumph over Rovers before winning the tie on penalties.
This time around, it is Molde that have the advantage heading into the second leg, and the history books certainly favour Hogmo’s men ahead of the match in Warsaw.
The two sides met in the knockout round playoffs of this competition last season, and Molde had an identical 3-2 lead to the one that they hold this year, having narrowly seen off Legia in the home leg.
Molde cruised to a 3-0 win in Poland in the second leg last season, ensuring a comfortable 6-2 victory on aggregate, a score that they will be hoping to emulate this season.
However, their journey in the Conference League ended in the next round when they lost 4-2 on aggregate to Club Brugge, so they will be looking to go at least a step further this season by progressing to the quarter-finals.
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They face a Legia side that will be determined to get revenge for last year’s defeat, and unlike their opponents, they automatically qualified for this stage of the competition, as they finished 7th in the league phase, having secured 12 points from their six matches.
After breezing through qualifying, the hosts won their first four matches in the league phase, with victories against Real Betis, Backa Topola, Dinamo Minsk and Omonia Nicosia, effectively sealing their qualification for the next phase.
However, they have suffered three defeats in a row in the Conference League, having lost to Lugano and Djurgardens IF before Christmas and then the first leg in Norway last week.
Their defeat last week should perhaps not be a massive surprise, as two of their three defeats in the Conference League this season have been away from home, while the Warsaw club have dropped points in nine of their 12 away matches in the Polish Ekstraklasa, including a 3-3 draw with Motor Lublin on Monday.
Legia have one of the best attacking records in the Conference League this year, with 33 goals in 13 matches overall, including the qualifiers that they played to reach the league phase.
In addition, they have the joint-best attack in the Ekstraklasa, with 46 goals in 24 matches, so scoring goals has not been an issue for the club at all his season.
Domestically, the hosts currently sit fourth in the league, and they are 10 points off leaders Lech Poznan in the standings, leaving the prospects of a 16th league title looking unlikely this year.
Despite seemingly being too far off the pace to mount a serious title challenge in Poland, the hosts still have hope of silverware in the Polish Cup, with a semi-final against Ruch Chorzow to look forward to next month.
With both that and a potential quarter-final of a European competition on the cards, there is plenty of reason for optimism at the club, despite their difficult league campaign.
Team News
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The hosts will be without Luquinhas, who is suspended for this match – the Brazilian star was on the scoresheet for Legia in last week’s defeat against Molde, and he will be a big miss for the Polish side.
Elsewhere, in a further blow for the hosts, Radovan Pankov (hamstring) and Jan Leszcynski (cruciate) remained sidelined with injuries.
Meanwhile, the visitors are expected to be without Casper Oyvann due to a knee injury, but the rest of the squad is fresh for this clash.
Molde will be boosted by the return of Isak Helstad Amundsen, who was suspended for the first leg after his red card against Shamrock Rovers in the previous round.
Legia Warsaw possible starting lineup:
Kovacevic; Vinagre, Kapuadi, Ziolkowski, Wszolek; Goncalves, Oyedele, Kapustka, Bichakhchyan, Chodyna; Gual
Molde possible starting lineup:
Karlstrom; Stenevik, Lund, Haugan, Linnes; Enggard, Breivik, Hestad, Daehli, Eriksen; Ihler
We say: Legia Warsaw 1-1 Molde
Despite Molde’s comfortable win when these sides met in Poland last season, we think this game will be much closer this time.
The Norwegian outfit have had to work hard to make it this far in the competition, with some close calls along the way, and we can see this game being tight again, but Molde should just about make it through.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
