Fiorentinavs.Plzen

Vincenzo Italiano's men have laboured in front of goal recently, putting them in a challenging position of breaking down a Viktoria side that have outdone every club's tally of clean sheets in the competition, keeping their 12th shutout in 15 games in last week's scoreless first leg.

Match preview

The Viola may desire to return to the Conference League final this season, intending to right the wrongs of the previous campaign, but they must find their scoring boots again after recent struggles in the attacking third.

Despite being one of the competition's top scorers leading up to the first leg, the Italian side fired blanks last time out for the first time since a 1-0 loss to Rapid Vienna in the playoff round.

That loss in August was not fatal as Italiano's men responded with a 2-0 win in Florence, and a similar outcome on Thursday seals progress into the tournament's semis.

However, failure to score more than one goal in a month of football across all competitions — since a 2-2 draw with Roma on March 10 — could be detrimental to the Serie A side.

Six matches have followed since that league draw with the Giallorossi, with one goal scored against Maccabi Haifa (1-1), AC Milan (2-1 loss) and Genoa (1-1) on Monday, while they have fired blanks in defeat by Juventus (1-0) and last Thursday. Fiorentina's only triumph was a Coppa Italia semi-final first-leg 1-0 win against Atalanta on April 3, underscoring recent issues.

Plzen seek to end the Viola's dream of making this season's final, with Miroslav Koubek's men keen to make the most of their defensive astuteness which bodes well in knockout football.

The Czech side seldom give little away, underscored by Koubek's troops conceding the first goal only once from the qualifying rounds through the competition proper — in their comeback 2-1 success against Astana in October — underlining the team's stinginess.

That much was evident in the reverse fixture last week, in which the Italian side had 73% possession, but quality goalscoring chances were at a premium. Viktoria limited Fiorentina to 10 shots in 90 minutes, all adding up to expected goals (xG) of 0.38.

Thursday's match-up could follow the same pattern, with Koubek predicting either side to win by the lone goal in Florence.

Such an outcome means Viktoria must not concede early against Fiorentina as an early concession leaves them at risk of being picked apart by a currently goal-shy home side.

Fiorentina Europa Conference League form:

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Fiorentina form (all competitions):

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Viktoria Plzen Europa Conference League form:

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Viktoria Plzen form (all competitions):

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Team News

Dodo replaced Michael Kayode for last week's clash, and the right-back could be reinstated for the reverse fixture, having sat out Monday's draw with Genoa.

Despite his team's dominance, Lucas Martinez Quarta's near-perfect defensive display and adventurous passing means the centre-back starts on Thursday along with Nikola Milenkovic.

Cristiano Biraghi was an unused substitute against Genoa, but the left-back should return to the side in place of Fabiano Pirola.

Pavel Sulc netted Viktoria's only goal in Sunday's 1-0 win over Slavia Prague, and the midfield man should start in Florence. However, the away side's top scorer is Tomas Chory, who seeks his fourth of this season's Conference League.

Koubek is expected to be without Jan Sykora, Matej Valenta and Rafiu Durosinmi because of knee injuries, while Jhon Mosquera (head) and Erik Jirka (groin) are both ruled out.

Fiorentina possible starting lineup:

Terracciano; Dodo, Milenkovic, Quarta, Biraghi; Arthur, Bonaventura; Gonzalez, Beltran, Sottil; Belotti

Viktoria Plzen possible starting lineup:

Jedlicka; Reznik, Hranac, Hejda, Jamelka, Cadu; Cerv, Kalvach, Sulc; Chory, Vydra

We say: Fiorentina 1-0 Viktoria Plzen (Fiorentina win 1-0 on aggregate)

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