Fenerbahce host HJK in the first leg of the Europa League qualification final. The match will be played on Thursday, August 19th at Ülker Stadyumu (Istanbul)
Fenerbahce finished in 3rd place in the last Turkish Super League. Due to that, the Yellow Canaries locked up a spot in the final round of the Europa League qualifiers. In the summer, Fenerbahce found a new head coach. Interim manager Emre Belezoglu was replaced by Portuguese Vitor Pereira, who had already worked with the team in 2015-2016. The club spent little money on newcomers in the offseason. They bought out the striker Mbwana Samatta from Aston Villa for 6 million euros and purchased the winger Burak Kapacak from Bursaspor for 1.35 million euros. Defenders Stephen Caulker, Cagtay Kurukalip, and Kim Min-jae and striker Serdar Dursun also moved to Istanbul as free agents. Pereira's team played the opening official match against the footballers of Adana Demirspor away (0-1). The only goal at the beginning of the 2nd half was scored by the main star of Fenerbahce Mesut Ozil.
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HJK won the Finnish championship in 2020 and got a ticket to the 1st qualifying round of the Champions League. The footballers from Helsinki knocked out the Montenegrin Buducnost (3-1 and 4-0), but in the next stage they lost to the Swedish Malmo (1-2 and 2-2). Having got into the 3rd qualifying round of the UEL, the Finns coped with the Azerbaijani Neftchi (2-2 and 3-0). The White-Blues are on the verge of repeating the result of the 2014/15 season, when they made it to the Europa League group stage. As for the Finnish championship, HJK is in the lead with a large margin. After 16 matches, Klubi scored 41 points and was nine points ahead of KuPS, which had a match in hand. HJK lost only one game in the championship. It happened a month ago in the away match against Oulu (2-1). On August 15, HIK defeated the outsider of the tournament, Mariehamn (1-0). The only goal was scored by Anthony Olusanya in the 65th minute.
The Turks are far superior to HJK in the class of footballers. Beyond that, the Canaries are motivated to play well in European competitions after a 3-year hiatus. On the other hand, the reigning champions of Finland are in great shape. Taking into account the situation in the championship, they can focus on European cups and compete with the favorite. HJK has not lost with a difference of more than one goal in nine international matches in a row. Considering that Fenerbahce is just starting the season and has not got in shape yet, it is highly likely that this streak will continue in Turkey.
Prediction for the match: HJK to win with +1.5 handicap
