Zalgiris vs Ludogorets prediction, preview, team news, and more

Zalgiris will take on Ludogorets on Thursday evening in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League playoffs.

Ludogorets won the first leg 1-0 against the Lithuanian team, courtesy of an own goal from Zalgiris' Ivan Tatomirovic in the second half. The Bulgarian club have qualified for the group stage of the continental showpiece in the last five seasons and will be confident that they can do so again.

Meanwhile, Zalgiris will need to recover a deficit without the services of Donatas Kazloukas, who was sent off in added time in the first leg in Bulgaria.

Zalgiris vs Ludogorets Head-to-Head

There have been just three previous meetings between Ludogorets and Zalgiris. They faced off in UEFA Champions League qualifying in 2017, with the Bulgarian club winning the tie 5-3 on aggregate.

Their most recent meeting was the first leg of the ongoing Europa League playoffs, which also went Ludogoret's way.

Ludogorets Form Guide (all competitions): W-W-L-L-W

Zalgiris Form Guide (all competitions): W-L-W-D-W

Zalgiris vs Ludogorets Team News

Zalgiris

Donatas Kazloukas will be suspended after the red card he received in the last game.

Injured: None

Doubtful: None

Suspended: Donatas Kazloukas

Unavailable: None

Ludogorets

Cauly Oliveira and Claude Goncalves are both injured and will miss this game.

Injured: Cauly Oliveira, Claude Goncalves

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Unavailable: None

Zalgiris vs Ludogorets Predicted XIs

Zalgiris (4-4-2): Edvinas Gertmonas (GK); Nemanja Ljubisavljevic, Mario Pavelic, Matas Verieka, Saulius Mikoliunas; Oliver Buff, Nicolas Gorobsov, Marko Milickovic, Fabien Ourega; Francis Kyeremeh, Renan Oliveira

Ludogorets (4-3-3): Simon Sluga; Cicinho, Igor Plastun, Olivier Verdon, Anton Nedyalkov; Ivan Yordanov, Jakub Piotrowski, Show; Kiril Despodov, Bernard Tekpetey, Igor Nascimento

Zalgiris vs Ludogorets Prediction

Ludogorets will fancy their chances, given their record in this fixture. They will hope to build on their first leg advantage when they travel to Lithuania.

Zalgiris have all to play for as they need to score at least twice to stay alive in the tie. Both teams matched up well in the first leg, with only an early own goal separating them.

This game is expected to be close as well, with Ludogorets likely to seal an aggregate win to reach the UEFA Europa League group stage for the sixth straight season.

Prediction: Zalgiris 1-2 Ludogorets