VMFD Zalgiris vs KF Ballkani – 12/07/2022
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The second legs of the 2022/23 Champions League First Qualifying round will be completed this week, including the tie between FK Žalgiris and KF Ballkani.
The match will be played at Vilniaus LFF Stadionas and the tie is poised at 1-1 following the first leg in Kosovo last week.
FK Žalgiris come into the match on the back of the 1-1 draw at KF Ballkani last week in the Champions League. It was KF Ballkani who opened the scoring after 15 minutes but FK Žalgiris did not waste much time getting back into the game and netted the equaliser just 10 minutes later. It was a decent result in the away leg of the tie for FK Žalgiris.
Despite the fact the A Lyga is currently in progress, FK Žalgiris did not have a fixture on the weekend and their focus has been fully on this tie. Their most recent league match came on the 1st of July and FK Žalgiris beat Hegelmann Litauen 2-1 at home to strengthen their position at the top of the league table.
Previous home fixtures in the Champions League shows FK Žalgiris are undefeated in 3 of their last 4 matches. They have beat Ludogorets and Linfield plus were held to a 0-0 draw by Astana.
Both teams have scored in each of their last 3 home Champions League games and FK Žalgiris have conceded in 4 of their last 5 UCL matches on home soil.
KF Ballkani make the trip to Vilniaus LFF Stadionas having also last played in the first leg of this tie. Having taken the lead early in the game, KF Ballkani will be disappointed they did not build on their advantage and allowed the opposition to equalise so quickly after the opening goal.
We must go back to the 22nd of May to find the previous competitive fixture for KF Ballkani. They beat Gjilani 2-0 at home in the Kosovo Superliga and cruised to the league title, finishing 12 points above the second place team.
This is the first outing in the Champions League for KF Ballkani and the first time they have travelled abroad to play in the competition. Their domestic away record is good and KF Ballkani are undefeated in 9 of their last 11 away league fixtures.
Team news and FK Žalgiris will have Renan Oliveira in attack and the Brazilian has been scoring plenty of goals domestically. Swiss midfielder Oliver Buff will start having scored in the away leg.
KF Ballkani may choose to adopt a defensive approach for this match. That could mean playing just one man up-front with Nazmi Gripshi getting the nod following his goal in the first leg.
The first leg could not split the teams and we expect something similar from the second leg. KF Ballkani have a good away record domestically and could prove tough to beat.
Therefore, we expect to see this one end level, with under 2.5 goals and the possibility of extra time.
