These two former eastern European block teams battle for a place in the Champions League, which will be a difficult achievement to attain.
Litex Lovech - MSK Zilina
The hosts are the Bulgarian champions and in their previous qualification round had an easy task over Montenegran side FK Rudar Pljevlja with a 4-0 home win and 1-0 victory on the road. They have many Brazilian players, who have been at the club for quite some time, such as Tom (who wants to play with the Bulgarian national squad), while they also have Bulgaria international Ivelin Popov, who is considered as one of the huge talents in Bulgaria but it should be said nowhere near the standards of former Bulgarian stars. They also have many Bulgarian internationals, however 36yo international defender Radostin Kishishev has left the club with Bojovicfrom their rivals Rudar Pljevlja coming the other way. However, a huge loss is the departure of last season's league top scorer, French forward Wilfried Niflore, who went to China for a bigger pay packet. They have a decent level as a team but do suffer from defensive leaks.
The visitors are not a well known European football club but they did manage to win the Slovakian league title last season. Whilst they have some Slovakian internationals, none were on the plane to South Africa. They also have some players from the neighbouring Czech Republic and African forward Babatounde. The Slovakian domestic action has already commenced and they clinched the Super Cup against Slovan Bratislava in their last outing. The game ended 2-2 despite having trailed 0-2 and their opponents playing with 10 men from the 21st minute. There are not any major differences to this season's squad since last season. They have restricted ability but they did knock out Birkirkara from Malta easily to make it this far.
Selection: I do not see the Bulgarians scoring easily given they basically crumble in Europe quite often (last season they defeated BATE 1-0 away and then conceded in the 85th minute of their home game, which ended with a 0-4 loss after extra time!). I will take a risk on the draw.
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