Slavia Prague hosts Midtjylland in the first leg of the Champions League qualification final. The match will be played on Tuesday, September 22nd at Sinobo Stadium (Prague)
Slavia is the main team of the Czech Republic now. Everybody remembers a bright performance in the last Champions League, where the team clearly lacked points (the Czechs did not lose to Barcelona in terms of attempts in the home match and were sharper than Borussia at Signal Iduna Park). Before that, the Red-Whites held a good campaign in the Europa League, where they eliminated Sevilla - no one from the Czech Republic made such a noise in Europe for a long time. It is not surprising that they dominate in the national championship. In the last season, they broke away from second place by nine points, having conceded only 12 goals in the entire season (regular championship + tournament for getting into European cups).
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Midtjylland is also gradually becoming the main team of its country. The Danes were interesting only for analysts for a long time (recruiting a team according to the principle of moneyball, this is where the xG metric was born), but a 14-point gap from Copenhagen in the last season made many experts pay attention to them. Beyond that, it is worth mentioning the motivational factor - Midtjylland has never played in the group stage of the Champions League, but there are enough good players like Sisto, and they want to play against the best again. The team started the new season not very well (three points scored in two matches), but the defeat to Sønnerjuske was rather a consequence of bad luck. Midtjylland created enough attempts for a draw (at least). The Wolves modestly beat Lyngby (1:0), although they scored very early.
You shouldn't make 12 goals conceded in the Czech Republic a cult. Many opponents play defensive football against Slavia, and the match comes down to the fact that the Red-Whites are struggling to breach the opponent's defensive block. Most often, these tactics bear fruit - then Slavia just kills the clock. Its main trump card in Europe is pressure - each of the top teams played one bad match against the Red-Whites in the last year's group, but the opponents had their goal attempts. In general, the teams are almost equal. However, Slavia will also put pressure in its favorite style (according to the 4-4-2 diamond pattern), which means the game will be open. We should wait for attempts from both sides. Therefore, my prediction is "Both teams to score – yes”.
Prediction for the match: Both teams to score - yes
