Maribor take on the visitors Shakhtyor Soligorsk in the first leg of round of 16 in UEFA Champions League qualification. The match will be played on Wednesday, July 6th at Ljudski vrt (Maribor).
Maribor confirm their status of the football flagship of Slovenia. "Purple" at the moment has already become the champions of their country 16 times. This despite the fact that the first title was taken only in 1997. There was, however, an unpleasant period for such a grandee, when for 2 seasons in a row it was not possible to win another "gold" - both the year before last and last year. But this spring everything worked out: with 70 points after 36 rounds, they managed to get ahead of Koper by 3 points. Slovenes often started in European competitions, and in 2017 they even got to the group stage of the Champions League (where they landed in the company with Spartak Moscow). But in recent years, not everything worked out. In 2020, Maribor was immediately knocked out of Northern Ireland by Coleraine. And last summer they passed through Urartu, but then lost in both matches to Hammarby.
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Shakhtyor Soligorsk are not having the most convincing season. The Pitmen currently have 2 wins in a row in the Belarusian Premier League. But 2022 turned out to be unsuccessful from the very beginning: a defeat to BATE in Super Cup, only 1 victory in the starting rounds of the new championship. It seems that the return of Sergei Tashuev to the post of head coach helped to stabilize the situation. The club began to win, but in June there were new misfires. Against this background, a new start in the European Cup begins, and it is worth noting that there were failures in previous starts. In 2020, the Belarusians were knocked out on penalties by the very first opponent, Moldovan Sfyntul. Last summer there were failures with Ludogorets in the Champions League and Fola Ash in the Conference League.
Maribor plays quite actively in European competitions. But so far, there have been no meetings with Shakhtyor Soligorsk either at the official or friendly level. The Miners seems to have a trump card in the form of playing practice, but he is not particularly impressive with his game. We dare to assume that Maribor will win at home.
Prediction for the match: Maribor to win.
