Cercle BruggeCercle Bruggevs.MoldeMolde

The winners of this tie on aggregate will progress to the playoff round to face either HNK Rijeka or IF Elfsborg later this month.

Match preview

Cercle Brugge have a mountain to climb if they wish to qualify for the main stage of a European competition for the first time in their history, after they were blown away in the first leg by a rampant Molde outfit in Norway last week.

The hosts raced into a three-goal lead within the opening 30 minutes thanks to strikes from Kristian Eriksen, Magnus Wolff Eikrem and Martin Linnes, while Emil Breivik would have rubbed salt into the Belgian club's wounds had he not missed a penalty in the closing stages.

Head coach Miron Muslic has taken full responsibility for Cercle Brugge's 'deserved' first-leg loss, and his players have since responded with an impressive 4-1 victory over Beerschot in their third Belgian Pro League fixture of the new season on Sunday.

After losing their opening two top-flight matches, goals from Bruno Goncalves, Kazeem Olaigbe, Kevin Denkey and Abdoul Kader Ouattara helped Groen en Zwart claim a much-needed morale-boosting win to open their account on home soil.

Cercle Brugge will need another strong attacking performance if they are to have any chance of overturning the three-goal deficit on Thursday against a Molde outfit, who are in high spirits after winning their last two matches.

Molde suffered defeat in back-to-back games against Viking and Silkeborg before sealing a dominant first-leg triumph over Cercle Brugge, and they have since picked up maximum points against Lillestrom in the Norwegian Eliteserien.

The Blue Rascals came from behind to win 2-1 on Sunday, with new signing Frederik Ihler netting an equaliser on the stroke of half time before Kristian Eriksen scored a dramatic 91st-minute winner.

Erling Moe can take plenty of positives from his team's most recent performances, with victory over Lillestrom helping them climb up to fourth in the Eliteserien standings, just two points behind second-placed Viking who occupy the final Champions League qualification spot for 2025-26.

Molde's focus has now shifted to Thursday's Europa League qualifier, though, with the six-time Norwegian champions seeking to advance to the main competition for the second successive year.

Cercle Brugge Europa League form:

D

W

L

Cercle Brugge form (all competitions):

D

L

W

L

L

W

Molde Europa League form:

W

L

W

Molde form (all competitions):

L

W

L

L

W

W

Team News

Cercle Brugge defender Edgaras Utkus was forced off with a hamstring injury in the first half of last weekend's win over Beerschot and is set to be sidelined for "several weeks" according to Muslic.

Midfielder Hannes Van der Bruggen was withdrawn at half time in the same game with a similar issue and has subsequently emerged as a major doubt, while new signing Ibrahim Diakite is yet to make his debut for the club as he continues to recover from a thigh injury.

The absence of Utkus will likely see either Senna Miangue or Boris Popovic handed a start at centre-back alongside Jesper Daland, while Lawrence Agyekum could replace Van der Bruggen in centre-midfield.

As for Molde, Fredrik Gulbrandsen, Veton Berisha and Johan Bakke all remain sidelined with injuries, while Martin Bjornbak has emerged as a doubt after being taken off in the 17th minute of last weekend's win over Lillestrom with an unspecified problem.

Anders Hagelskjaer was brought on in his place and is likely to be handed a start at the heart of a three-man defence next to Casper Oyvann and Valdemar Lund against Cercle Brugge.

Eriksen has found the net 12 times in all competitions so far this season and is set to continue his partnership in attack with Eikrem, who has 11 goals to his name thus far.

Cercle Brugge possible starting lineup:

Warleson; Ravych, Popovic, Daland, Miangue; Agyekum, Francis; Ouattara, Somers, Olaigbe; Denkey

Molde possible starting lineup:

Posiadala; Oyvann, Hagelskjaer, Lund; Linnes, Kitolano, Daehli, Breivik, Lovik; Eriksen, Eikrem

We say: Cercle Brugge 1-2 Molde (Molde to win 5-1 on aggregate)

Cercle Brugge can ill-afford to start the way they did in the first leg against Molde and must quickly put their stamp on proceedings if they wish to have any chance of overturning the three-goal deficit. However, it is difficult to back against Molde progressing from this tie on aggregate, even if the hosts do put up a fight.

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