Both Neftchi Baku and Rapid Wien will continue their pursuit of European football when they face off at the Bakcell Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the first leg of their Europa Conference League third qualifying round on Thursday.
Both side impressively opened their Conference League in the second round with Neftchi Baku knocking out Aris Limassol 3-2 on aggregate. The Azerbaijan outfit had a suffered a 2-0 defeat in the first leg but managed to overturned the tables in the second leg as they edged to a 3-0 victory at home.
The amazing fighting spirit they displayed in the second round will be vital in this third round as they face tougher opponents.
Meanwhile Rapid Wien played out a 0-0 draw with Lechia Gdansk in the first leg of their second round tie, before they claimed a 2-1 victory in the reserve leg at away.
Wien now look to continue their pursuit for an appearance in the competition proper after the qualification campaign is done. They are favorites in this clash as they have been flying high recently going unbeaten in their last 10 games across all competitions, while are unbeaten in their last six on the road – including the 1-0 away win over Austria Klagenfurt in the domestic league last Sunday.
But Baku are hard to beat at home and Austrians should bring their A-game if they are to pick a first-leg advantage.
Neftchi Baku vs Rapid Wien head to head
This will be the first encounter between the two sides. Take a look at their previous results;
Home
- Baku 3-0 Aris Limassol
- Aris Limassol 2-0 Baku
- Qarabag 4-1 Baku
- Baku 0-1 Zira
- Qabala 1-0 Baku
Away
- Austria Klagenfurt 0-1 Rapid
- Lechia Gdansk 1-2 Rapid
- Rapid 1-0 SV Ried
- Rapid 0-0 Lechia Gdansk
- Admira Wacker 1-2 Rapid
Baku team news
Neftchi Baku have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the tie.
Rapid Wein team news
Wien will be without Martin Moormann, Lion Schuster, Dejan Petrovic, Yusuf Demir and Ferdy Druijf through injuries.
Prediction and odds
- Double chance (2, X)
- Both sides to score
- Goals over 2.5
