Malmo FF hosts Ludogorets Razgrad in the first leg of the Champions League qualification final. The match will be played on Wednesday, August 18th at Eleda Stadion (Malmö)
Thanks to the victory in the previous Swedish Championship, Malmo FF started its way to the Champions League group stage from the 1st qualifying round. The Sky Blues knocked out the Latvian FC Riga (1-0 and 1-1), the Finnish HJK (2-1 and 2-2), and the Scottish Rangers (2-1, 2-1). And Malmo avoided defeats in the qualification before the upcoming confrontation. In the Swedish championship, The Sky Blues are in 2nd place, lagging three points behind Djurgården. Until the last round, Tomasson's charges were on a par with the Stockholm club, but on August 14, they failed to cope with Goteborg at home (2-3). Despite an early goal by Antonio Colak, Malmo had to win back due to two conceded goals by the end of the game. In the 86th minute, Malik Abubakari equalized the score, but the Sky-Blues could not score at least one point. Peter Gwargis picked up a red card in added time, and Goteborg converted the penalty with the efforts of Tobias Sana and snatched the victory.
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Ludogorets won a place in the 1st qualifying round of the Champions League by winning the 2020/21 Bulgarian Championship. The Eagles eliminated Shakhtyor Soligorsk (1-0 and 1-0), Slovenian Mura (0-0 and 1-3), and the Greek Olympiacos. Ludogorets was not the favorite in the confrontation with the champions of Greece. On August 3, the Bulgarians achieved an away draw with a score of 1-1, and on August 10, they repeated this outcome at home (2-2). In extra time, the Greeks, who were playing in the minority from the 86th minute after the sending-off of Hussein Ba, kept the score until the penalty shootout, where Ludogorets was more accurate (4-1).
Malmo and Ludogorets will cross paths for the first time. Pre-match layouts indicate a slight advantage for Malmo. The Sky Blues are strong at home: three last home matches in the Champions League qualification ended with their victories. And before the defeat to Goteborg, Tomasson's guys did not lose in home official matches for almost a year. As for Ludogorets, it won only one away qualifying match against Shakhtyor, and games against other opponents ended in a draw. Since the outcome of the confrontation is of the utmost importance for both teams, they will look closely at each other and try to play as carefully as possible in the first half. This is indicated by the statistics of previous games. In the current qualification, Ludogorets has not scored in any away game before the break, and Malmo has organized only one goal in the first half in three home games.
Prediction for the match: Under 1.0 goal scored in the first half
