The first round of the Champions League qualifiers will finish off this week and Polish champions Lech Poznan are looking to secure their spot in the next stage on the road against Qarabag whom they beat 1-0 a week ago.
Lech are underdogs for the clash with bookmaker 10bet having the odds for an away win at 4.00. The odds for Qarabag to win are at 1.90.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: July 11th, 9:00 A.M. (EST)
The eight-time Polish champions won the first leg thanks to Mikael Ishak’s first-half goal, but an improvement is needed if they want to progress further in the competition. Qarabag had more possession and shots in the game and the team definitely came away from Poznan feeling disappointed that they lost.
Lech went on to lose the Polish Super Cup against Rakow Czestochowa 2-0 and the team clearly has some issues right now. John van den Brom’s men again struggled to create chances over the weekend and they weren’t good enough defensively either.
Van den Brom will be hoping that Ishak’s quality is enough to carry the team through rough waters. The Swedish forward had a superb year with 18 goals in the Polish top flight last year and he’s notched a total of 39 goals in 68 games for the club.
A prolific goalscorer always gives you a chance to win a football game and Ishak has proven himself as a very reliable source for goals.
Qarabag will also want to keep a close eye on Portuguese winger Joao Amaral. The career numbers for the 30-year-old don’t look anything special, but he exploded for 14 goals and eight assists in the Ekstraklasa last season. Amaral was rested for the Super Cup game and will be fresh to go on Tuesday.
The Qarabag attack is led by a three-headed monster. Kady Borges, Ibrahima Wadji and Filip Ozobic combined for 34 goals in the Azerbaijan Premier League last season as Qarabag cruised to an eighth championship in nine years.
Azerbaijani football isn’t at a very high level and the local national team is ranked just 128th in the world, but Qarabag is relying on a lot of foreign players and the team has proven its quality by enjoying multiple good European campaigns in recent years. They even made it to the Champions League group stage in 2017-18 and played out two draws with Atletico Madrid.
The Poles should know all about Qarabag’s threat as well. 2020 Ekstraklasa champions Legia Warsaw were easily beaten 3-0 by Qarabag a couple of seasons back as the Atlilar sealed their qualification for the Europa League group stage.
