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Viktoria Plzen will host Malmo at the Stadion Mesta Plzne on Thursday in the second round of the 2025-26 UEFA Europa League league phase. The home side have hit a rough patch in recent games, most recently suffering a shock 1-0 defeat to newly-promoted Zlin in the Czech First League and will now hope they can bounce back when they head to the continental stage on Thursday.
They had to settle for a point in their tournament opener last week as they played out a 1-1 draw away at Ferencvaros. They looked set to be headed towards maximum points following Rafiu Durosimi's first-half strike before their opponents drew level at the death.
Malmo, meanwhile, traded tackles with Ludogorets at the Eleda Stadium in their league phase opener and lost 2-1. The Swedish giants conceded both goals in the first-half before Lasse Berg Johnsen came off the bench to halve the deficit in the second.
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The visitors have since returned to winning ways, beating Varnamo 3-2 in their domestic league at the weekend and will hope to take inspiration from that on Thursday.
Viktoria Plzen vs Malmo Head-to-Head and Key Numbers
- Thursday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Viktoria and Malmo.
- The visitors have had nine meetings against Czech opposition in European competitions. They have won three of those games, drawn once and lost the other five.
- The hosts meanwhile have no prior competitive encounters with Swedish opposition.
- Viktoria are the third-highest-scoring side in the Czech top-flight this term with 17 goals.
- Malmo meanwhile have the second-best defensive record in the Swedish Allsvenskan this season with 23 goals conceded in 25 games.
Viktoria Plzen vs Malmo Prediction
Viktoria will head into the midweek clash in shaky form after losing two of their previous three outings. They have, however, won three of their last four home games and will head into the Thursday's game as favorites.
Di Blae's latest result ended a run of back-to-back defeats and they will now be looking to kick on from that this week. They have been impressive on the road but could see defeat against a slightly stronger side on Thursday.
Prediction: Viktoria Plzen 2-1 Malmo
Viktoria Plzen vs Malmo Betting Tips
Tip 1 - Result: Viktoria
Tip 2 - Both teams to score: YES (Both sides have found the back of the net in five of the hosts' last seven matches)
Tip 3 - Viktoria to score first: YES (The Czech club have opened the scoring in all but one of their last eight games)
