On Thursday, starting with 18:00, the Besiktas – Rio Ave match will be played, within the 3rd preliminary round of the Europa League. The two teams have never met in European competitions, thus being a duel for the first time. The winner of this preliminary round will meet in the Europa League play-off between AC Milan and Bodo / Glimt.
Besiktas quickly overcame the shock of elimination from the 2nd preliminary round of the Champions League, a defeat in Greece with PAOK Thessaloniki, score 1-3. The “Eagles” ticked 4 points in the first two stages of the Super League, due to the victory with Trabzonspor (score 3-1) and the draw with Antalyaspor (score 1-1). Sergen Yalcin’s team is on the 5th place in the internal championship ranking and will attack the presence in the Europa League groups for the third consecutive season. The first step must be checked on Thursday night, the 3rd preliminary round with the Portuguese team Rio Ave.
Rio Ave participated once more in the Europa League group stage, in the 2014/2015 season. Then, the Portuguese finished 4th in a group with Dinamo Kiev, FCSB and Aalborg. In the 2nd preliminary round, Rio Ave eliminated the Bosnian team Borac Banja Luka, after a 2-0 away victory. In the domestic championship, Mario Silva’s students started in the new season with a draw, score 1-1 on the field of Tondela.
Besiktas will benefit from the contribution of their own field to ensure their qualification in the play-off, but defensive problems can be exploited by Rio Ave.
-Besiktas won 15 Turkish championship titles;
-The “eagles” were quarterfinalists of the Europa League in 2016/2017;
-Rio Ave lost 3 Cup finals in Portugal;
-The Portuguese participated in the Europa League group stage once (2014/2015);
PREDICTION: Besiktas to win @ 2,00
