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Fenerbahce will host Slovacko at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium on Thursday in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League third qualification round.
The hosts were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers by Dynamo Kyiv last month. After a goalless first leg, the Turkish giants were beaten 2-1 in a tense return leg on home turf, where they conceded a late winner deep into extra time.
Fenerbahce have never won the UEFA Europa League, with their best run in the competition coming in the 2012-13 season, losing 3-2 on aggregate to Benfica in the semifinals.
Slovacko, meanwhile, have taken major strides in Czech football in the last two seasons. They've secured back-to-back fourth-place finishes after finishing in the bottom half of the 1 Liga in the four seasons before that.
They played in the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers last season, where they were knocked out by Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the first round. They'll now look to avoid a repeat of the same here.
Fenerbahce vs Slovacko Head-to-Head
Thursday's game will mark the first meeting between Fenerbahce and Slovacko. Both teams will look for a strong result here to put themselves in a vantage position ahead of the return leg next week.
Fenerbahce Form Guide (All Competition): L-D-W-W-W.
Slovacko Form Guide (All Competitions): D-D-W-D-W.
Fenerbahce vs Slovacko Team News
Fenerbahce
Ismail Yuksek received a red card last time out, so he's suspended from this one. Defensive duo Nazim Sangare and Serdar Aziz are both injured and are not expected to feature for the hosts this week.
Injured: Nazim Sangare, Serdar Aziz.
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: Ismail Yuksek.
Unavailable: None.
Slovacko
Manager Martin Svedik is expected to have all players fit and available for selection for this midweek game.
Injured: None.
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: None.
Unavailable: None.
Fenerbahce vs Slovacko Predicted XIs
Fenerbahce (4-3-3): Altay Bayindir; Bright Osayi-Samuel, Marcel Tisserand, Attila Szalai, Ferdi Kadioglu; Willian Arao, Miguel Crespo, Irfan Kahveci; Diego Rossi, Enner Valencia, Joshua King.
Slovacko (4-5-1): Filip Nguyen; Petr Reinberk, Stanislav Hofmann, Michal Kadlec, Jan Kalabiska; Milan Petržela, Vlastimil Danícek, Marek Havlík, Michal Travník, Daniel Holzer; Filip Vecheta.
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Fenerbahce vs Slovacko Prediction
Fenerbahce saw their 20-game unbeaten run across competitions come to an end and will look to bounce back this week. They have been solid on home turf recently and will fancy their chances in this one.
Slovacko, meanwhile, are also enjoying a good run of form and are undefeated in their last 12 games across competitions. They have, however, struggled to impress on the road and could lose here.
Prediction: Fenerbahce 2-1 Slovacko.
