Mariborvs.Botev Plovdiv

The visitors have a slight edge ahead of the second leg after claiming a 2-1 victory in the home leg of the first-round qualifying tie.

Match preview

Maribor are competing in Europa League qualifying after finishing in second place in the Slovenian PrvaLiga last season.

After playing in Europa Conference League qualifying last season, Maribor are competing in the Europa League for the first time since losing 3-0 to HJK in the third qualifying round in August 2022.

Two years on, they face a fight to reach the second stage of qualifying after they suffered a narrow defeat in Bulgaria last week, with the result representing their fifth defeat in their last seven away matches in UEFA competition.

With victory required in the second leg, Maribor will be concerned by the fact they have failed to win any of their last eight European home games in regulation time (D5, L3).

As a result, they are looking to win a European home game in 90 minutes for the first time since beating Urartu in Europa Conference League qualifying in July 2021.

Meanwhile, Botev Plovdiv are featuring in UEFA competition for the first time in seven years after they won the Bulgarian Cup last season.

The Bulgarian side have prevailed in each of their last five appearances in the first qualifying round ties of the Europa League/UEFA Cup.

Botev Plovdiv are well set to continue that impressive run after they claimed a 2-1 win in the first leg against Maribor following goals from Anthony Ujah and Nikola Iliev.

As a result of that narrow win, Botev Plovdiv have now gone 11 home matches without losing in European competition (W8, D3).

They also boast an encouraging record on their travels, having seen their last eight European matches produce three wins, three draws and two defeats.

Maribor Europa League form:

L

Botev Plovdiv Europa League form:

W

Team News

Maribor boss Ante Simundza is likely to keep faith with the back four of Pijus Sirvys, Lan Vidmar, Sven Karic and Martin Milec.

Simundza could be tempted to make a change on the left flank, with Marko Bozic in contention to start after playing the final half-hour of the first leg.

Josip Ilicic played the duration of the away leg to make his first appearance since representing Slovakia at Euro 2024, and the 36-year-old is set to operate in the number 10 role behind forward Arnel Jakupovic.

As for the visitors, Botev Plovdiv will have to assess the fitness of Joonas Tamm, who was forced off at half time last week.

If Tamm is unable to feature, Siriky Diabate is likely to come into the side to partner Antoine Conte in central defence.

Iliev could be rewarded with a starting spot after he came off the bench to score the all-important winner in the first leg.

Maribor possible starting lineup:

Jug; Sirvys, Vidmar, Karic, Milec; Z Repas, J Repas; Soudani, Ilicic, Bozic; Jakupovic

Botev Plovdiv possible starting lineup:

Igonen; Minkov, Diabate, Conte, Balogiannis; Eto'o, Perera; Iliev, Popov, Akere; Ujah

We say: Maribor 1-1 Botev Plovdiv

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