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Vaduz will play host to Apollon at Rheinpark Stadion in their UEFA Europa Conference League Group E opener on Thursday.
The hosts entered the competition in the second qualifying round, where they lost last year. After defeating Turkish side Konyaspor, Vaduz stunned Austrian giants Rapid Wien to make history. They became the first Liechtenstein club to reach the group stage of a UEFA club competition. Residenzler have been competing in European qualifying since the late nineties.
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Apollon, meanwhile, had lofty ambitions for this season's UEFA Champions League but their dream was cut short in the third qualifying round. Once again, they crashed out of the Europa League following a 3-1 loss to Olympiacos in the playoff round.
However, they have reached the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage where they will face Dutch side AZ, Ukrainian club Dnipro-1 and Vaduz in Group E. The Cypriot champions have 27 appearances in UEFA competitions.
Apollon will hope to return to winning ways at Rheinpark Stadion after three successive failures on the road.
Vaduz vs Apollon Head-to-Head
This will be the first meeting between the two teams.
Vaduz form guide (all competitions): D-W-L-W-D
Apollon form guide (all competitions): W-W-D-D-W
Vaduz vs Apollon News
Vaduz
Centre-back Fuad Rahimi has been sidelined with a knee injury, while defensive midfielder Sandro Wieser is yet to recover from an ankle sprain.
Injured: Fuad Rahimi, Sandro Wieser
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Apollon
Centre-forward Bagaliy Dabo will not make the trip to Vaduz due to a muscle injury.
Injured: Bagaliy Dabo
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Vaduz vs Apollon News Predicted Xls
Vaduz (3-4-2-1): Benjamin Buchel (GK), Lars Traber, Arbenit Xhemajli, Kristijan Dobras, Fabio Fehr, Nicolas Hasler, Milan Gajic, Dario Ulrich, Franklin Sasere, Cedric Gasser, Tunahan Cicek
Apollon (4-3-3): Aleksandar Jovanovic (GK), Vukasin Jovanovic, Valentin Roberge, Haitam Aleesami, Andreas Panagiotou Filiotis, Nicolas Diguiny, Chambos Kyriakou, El-Hadji Ba, Ioannis Pittas, Ido Shahar, Dimitris Pinakas
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Vaduz vs Apollon News Prediction
Expectations are sky high in Vaduz ahead of Apollon’s visit following the hosts’ historic qualification to the group stage.
However, their home performances are far from inspiring, not winning any of their last six outings, conceding 11 goals. Nevertheless, they could have enoug motivation to deal with Apollon.
This game could end in a stalemate, as the visitors’ strength and quality will likely be negated by the hosts’ determination.
Prediction: Vaduz 1-1 Apollon
