Fenerbahce will take on Slovacko in the first leg UEFA Europa League qualifying semifinals. The match will take place at Ulker Stadyumu in Istanbul on Thursday, August 4.
Fenerbahce has already experienced a painful setback this season. The Canaries came in second place last season. This is a positive result in the contexts of previous draws. However, it was disappointing that we failed to win trophies again – this has never happened since 2014. Jorge Jesus was summoned to end this unfortunate trend and newcomers were actively recruited by the Portuguese. They lost to Dynamo Kyiv who had not practiced since December and couldn’t host the Turks from Ukraine. Although Fenerbahce did have an advantage in both matches, it ended in Lodz at 0-0 and Istanbul at 1-2, in stoppage. We must win to show our fans that we are serious about winning. They are becoming increasingly impatient.
Slovak was founded in 2000. It wasn’t a new team, but it was a combination of two not very successful teams. After that, there were only a few cups finals appearances, which were invariably unsuccessful. There were also periodic losses to the top division. Only in the last season did it finish in fourth place, which allowed us to participate in the Conference League. It all came to an abrupt halt with the first duel. They exchanged 1-0 victories at home and lost a penalty shootout against the Bulgarians. He was able to repeat the Czech championship result. It won the cup and became the first ever trophy in history. We were able to now start in the Europa League from this qualifying stage.
Until last year, Slovacko only played in the semi-official Intertoto Cup. It’s not surprising that they will be playing against Fenerbahce in this match. Fenerbahce must learn from Dynamo Kyiv’s mistakes, and Slovacko doesn’t look like an opponent in the same class. We bet that the Turks will win this match with a handicap of “-1 goal”.
Prediction: Fenerbahce will win.
