Sports Mole previews Wednesday’s Champions League clash between Jagiellonia Bialystok and Panevezys, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Off the back of a resounding first-leg display, Jagiellonia Bialystok will be looking to complete the job in their Champions League qualifier against Panevezys at Stadion Miejski on Wednesday.
The away side, meanwhile, make the trip with a mountain to climb if they are to keep their dreams of featuring in Europe’s premier club competition alive.
Match preview
Jagiellonia maintained their perfect start to the season with a 3-2 victory over Radomiak Radom at Stadion im. Braci Czachorow on Saturday.
Adrian Siemieniec‘s men went into half time cruising thanks to a Jaroslaw Kubicki double but were pegged back by Leonardo Rocha‘s brace before Villar Miki struck the winner.
Consequently, Jaga have moved up to first place in the Ekstraklasa table, level on points with Legia Warsaw – the only other side with maximum points from their two matches so far.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who were on the receiving end of a 4-0 thrashing in the only previous edition of this fixture.
Having won each of their last five home involvements by a combined score of 13-1, Wednesday’s hosts are on fire in front of their fans and head into this one with the wind in their sails.
Panevezys played out a thrilling 3-3 stalemate against Dziugas Telsiai in Saturday’s encounter at the Telsiai Central Stadium.
After going behind to Lukas Ankudinovas‘s opener, Stijn Vreven‘s men turned the game around thanks to strikes from Linas Klimavicius and Ernestas Veliulis before Leif Fernandez restored parity, only for Jeffrey Sarpong to restore his side’s advantage which was later wiped out by Christian Bella.
With 22 points picked up from 23 league matches this term, Panevezys remain rooted to the bottom of the A Lyga table and are in need of a pick-me-up.
Since losing four straight away games between May and mid-June, Wednesday’s visitors are unbeaten in their subsequent three matches on the road but will need to be near-perfect as they look to overturn a four-goal deficit.
Jagiellonia Bialystok Champions League Qualifying form:
Jagiellonia Bialystok form (all competitions):
Panevezys Champions League Qualifying form:
Panevezys form (all competitions):
Team News
Jagiellona’s Jesus Imaz netted a hat-trick in last week’s meeting between Wednesday’s opponents and will be looking to deliver the goods once again.
Jaroslaw Kubicki could retain his place in the hosts’ lineup having made the most of his reintroduction to the starting XI last time out where he bagged a brace.
Ernestas Veliulis has found the back of the net in three of his last four appearances for Panevezys, making him one to keep an eye on here.
Ghanaian midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah is still out of contention for the away side as he remains sidelined with a long-term injury which has seen him fail to feature since May.
Jagiellonia Bialystok possible starting lineup:
Abramowicz; Moutinho, Skrzypczak, Grande, Pacek; Hansen, Nene, Romanczuk, Marczuk; Imaz, Pululu
Panevezys possible starting lineup:
Timbur; Mazan, Klimavicius, Dubra, Rasimavicius; Gorobsov, Cadjenovic; Veliulis, Palacios-Martinez, De Vega; Gussias
We say: Jagiellonia Bialystok 3-1 Panevezys
Given their significant advantage heading into this one, Jagiellonia can afford to take their foot off the gas a bit but they will be keen to put on a show on home turf. We are tipping the hosts to carry the day at the end of the 90 minutes here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.