Preview: Slavia Prague vs. Legia Warsaw - prediction, team news, lineups

Slavia Prague and Legia Warsaw meet in the Europa League qualifiers after both sides failed to progress in their Champions League qualification campaigns.

The first leg of this tie will be played at the Sinobo Stadium, giving the Czech Republican side home advantage to begin with, before Legia Warsaw host Slavia Prague to conclude the tie next week.

Match preview

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Slavia Prague faced Hungarian side Ferencvaros in their Champions League qualifier and the first leg did not go to plan for Jindrich Trpisovsky's side, losing 2-0 away from home.

One week later, Slavia Prague had it all to do to turn around a two-goal deficit, and the side came up short, only managing a 1-0 win on the day courtesy of a strike from Lukas Masopust.

For the last three seasons, Slavia Prague have progressed into the Europa League group stages twice and Champions League group stage once, and during the 2018-19 season and last year the Czech outfit were quarter-finalists in this competition, losing to London opposition Chelsea and Arsenal on both occasions.

Trpisovsky's side's league form could not be better, having won all three games to kick off their campaign, most recently picking up three points against Mlada Boleslav, with the goals coming from Jan Kuchta and Ivan Schranz.

Slavia Prague are looking for their fourth consecutive league title this season and their domestic success has been translated into their European adventures, demonstrated by their quarter-final appearances in two of the last three seasons as previously mentioned.

Legia Warsaw also lost in the Champions League qualifiers, falling against Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb across the two legs, after initially beating Flora Tallinn in the previous round.

Czeslaw Michniewicz's side would have been satisfied with the 1-1 draw they earned in the first leg away from home against Zagreb, but they could not capitalise on that in the final leg when a single strike from Bartol Franjic was enough to send Warsaw into the Europa League qualifiers.

Domestically, Legia Warsaw have made a decent start to their campaign, winning two of the first three fixtures, but they will be looking for more if they are to retain the Ekstraklasa title.

Last time out, the reigning Polish champions were comfortable against Warta Poznan, and goals from Rafael Lopes and Tomas Pekhart sealed the win away from home.

That result was the perfect way to bounce back from their last defeat in the league and the disappointment from the Champions League qualifiers, and Legia Warsaw will need to build on that win last time out to progress in the Europa League.

Team News

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Trpisovsky made nine changes for the last game from the side which beat Ferencvaros in the second leg of the Champions League qualifier, only goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar and left-back Oscar Dorley kept their places.

Thursday's lineup is likely to look more similar to the side which beat Mlada Boleslav in the league, including Kuchta up front looking to build on his second goal of the season which he netted on Saturday.

Winger Peter Olayinka was forced off after 16 minutes in the second leg against Ferencvaros, and he was then absent from the squad for the last game, making it likely that he will miss Thursday's clash also.

Michniewicz plays a three at the back and that unit is likely to be made up by Maik Nawrocki, Mateusz Wieteska and Filip Mladenovic, protecting former Southampton goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

Pekhart's goal against Warta Poznan was his first of the campaign, and he will be looking to add to that as he chases the 22 goals he managed for the club last season.

Slavia Prague possible starting lineup:
Kolar; Dorley, Zima, Kacharaba, Masopust; Stanciu, Traore; Sima, Lingr, Ekpai; Kuchta

Legia Warsaw possible starting lineup:
Boruc; Nawrocki, Wieteska, Mladenovic; Holownia, Martins, Slisz, Skibicki; Muci, Pekhart, Lopes

We say: Slavia Prague 1-1 Legia Warsaw

Both sides have had similar starts to their respective seasons, having been knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers but gained positive results in their domestic campaign, suggesting that this tie is going to be a closely-fought encounter.

Neither side will want to give their opposition an early advantage heading into the second leg next week, and they will both be wary of being knocked out of the Europa League qualifiers after what happened in the Champions League.