On Thursday, starting with 18:00, the Hammarby – Puskas Academy match will be played, within the Europa League preliminaries, round 1. The two teams have not met until now, being thus a premiere. Hammarby returns after 13 years in European competitions, and Puskas Academy is a debutante and does not have a rich history, being founded only in 2005.
Hammarby comes after a defeat suffered in the Swedish first league, score 1-3 away with Sirius. Thus, it remains on the 7th place in the ranking, with 24 points in the first 17 stages, 14 points away from the leader Malmo. At home, the “white-greens” were defeated only once this season, with the remaining 3 wins and 4 draws. It will be the first European match for Hammarby after a break of 13 years, when it was eliminated in the first round of the UEFA Cup, by the Portuguese group Braga.
On the other hand, Puskas Academy is debuting in the European Cups, after finishing the previous season in the first Hungarian league in third place. The team, founded in 2005, has been active for 7 seasons in the first football echelon, but did not get close to the podium until 2020. In the team there are two Romanians, Alexandru Baluta and Nandor Tamas. If Baluta is known to Romanian microbes after the evolutions in Craiova, Tamas is a 19-year-old young striker, born in Targu Secuiesc.
Puskas Academy is evolving quite spectacularly in Hungary, it does not refuse the game, and this style suits the Swedes perfectly.
Hammarby won the title in Sweden only once (2001);
The “white-greens” won the 2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup;
Puskak Academy finished 3rd last season in Hungary;
The “yellow-blues” lost the final of the Hungarian Cup in 2018;
PREDICTION: Over 2,5 goals @ 1,73
