Paksi – Polissya: Can Polissya hold on to their commanding lead?
Polissya Zhytomyr
Polissya and Paksi will face off in the second leg of the UEFA Conference League on Thursday, August 14, at 19:00 CET. Here’s our match preview and prediction.
Paksi – Polissya: match preview
In the first leg, the Hungarian side stood little chance. Conceding twice in the first half and once more after the break, Paksi failed to find the net or generate any real threat. Polissya cruised to a confident and well-deserved 3-0 win.
Paksi have already kicked off their new Hungarian league campaign, picking up seven points from three matches to sit among the early leaders. The team began the season in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers but crashed out in the first round with a 0-3 aggregate loss. They then edged Maribor 2-1 in a tough Conference League tie. Now, however, the Hungarian club are on the brink of elimination from the Conference League as well.
Polissya started their journey from the second qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League, losing the first leg to Santa Coloma 1-2 before thrashing their opponents 4-1 in the return match. Against Paksi, they delivered a dominant 3-0 victory in the opening leg and are now just one step away from the playoff round. In the Ukrainian league, Polissya opened with a 2-0 win over Karpaty but fell 0-1 to Kolos in the second round.
Match facts and head-to-head history
- The first leg ended with a resounding 3-0 win for Polissya.
- Paksi have conceded at least one goal in each of their last five games.
- The winner of this tie will face Fiorentina in the playoff round.
- This is only the second ever head-to-head meeting between these teams.
Probable line-ups
- Paksi: Kovácsik, Szabó, Zeke, Hinora, Kinyik, Papp, Vécsei, Windecker, Balogh, Haraszti, Tóth
- Polissya: Volynets, Sarapiy, Beskorovainyi, Kravchenko, Mykhailychenko, Lednev, Andriyevskyi, Krushynskyi, Babenko, Hutsulyak, Filippov
Prediction
Paksi will have no choice but to push forward and try to turn the tie around. With the hosts taking more risks, Polissya will have opportunities to hit on the counter and find the net. The best bet here looks to be both teams to score, with odds of 1.82.