Europa Conference League Preview: Teuta -v- Shamrock Rovers

TEUTA

Edi Martini’s Teuta team, trailing 1-0 from the first leg, will need to show a lot more attacking options than the showed in Tallaght when they play Shamrock Rovers in their home leg of this Europa Conference League third qualifying round (kick off 7pm Irish time).

In fact they pretty much showed no attacking flair last Thursday when they came and parked the bus in Dublin 24. They attempted just one shot looking at the UEFA stats and Wyscout gave them just 24% of the ball during the game, making just 183 passes with a 70% success rate. This compares with Rovers’ 706 passes (89% successful passes).

That defensive performance was likely one of the unintended consequences of the withdrawal of the away goals rule and the Albanian side were happy enough to sit deep and soak up the pressure only to be undone by a late late Aidomo Emakhu goal.

Teuta also lost the first leg of the Champions League qualifier away from home 1-0. Sheriff Tiraspol scored four without replay in the second leg in Albania.

They lost at home 2-0 in the first leg of the Europa Conference League second round tie against Inter Escaldes but won 3-0 in Andorra to progress to play the Hoops. This is only the second time an Albanian team has been drawn against League of Ireland opposition in Europe.

Teuta are still in their pre-season and so come into the game rested – Rovers required all 95 minutes on Sunday to find a winning goal against Longford Town. 

Albano Alexi is available for selection having missed out on the trip to Tallaght due to suspension.

Thursday’s match has been moved to Elbasan Arena 80km south east from their home in the port city of Durrës.

SHAMROCK ROVERS 

The Hoops know that if they can progress passed Teuta on Thursday evening they will face Flora Tallinn from Estonia in the play-off round. Flora drop into the Conference League having been eliminated from the Europa League qualifiers on Tuesday on penalties by Cypriot side Omonia.

The Hoops have played both clubs previously in Europe. Omonia knocked Rovers out of Europe in 1987. More recently Rovers beat Flora 1-0 on aggregate at the start of their famous 2011 European run that resulted in qualification for Rovers for the Europa League group stages.

That was the first ever win for Rovers in the European Cup/Champions League, with their second ever win only coming this year when the Hoops beat Slovan Bratislave 2-1 at home (but were eliminated 3-2 on aggregate).

Rovers flew out on Tuesday and travelled down from Tirana on Wednesday to train in the Elbasan Arena which is 40km south east of the Albanian capital.

The Hoops struggled in the heat in Slovan last month and it is likely to be even hotter in Albania this week. 

“I love playing and training in the heat - maybe not the heat what we had in Bratislava,” said Richie Towell when speaking to this reporter recently. “The way our manager wants us to play is high pressing and high energy with free flowing football football and the conditions made it impossible to play that usual game plan over 90 minutes.”

Stephen Bradley spoke about the weather conditions to shamrockrovers.ie and how his team will need to manage the heat.

"There's no getting away from it, it's very hot but thankfully by the time kick off comes around it's calmed down quite a bit," said Bradley. "We'll be fine. It is what it is and there's no excuses. We'll manage it right and get ready to go with a game plan to win the game."

The Hoops travelled out with virtually a full squad including Liam Scales who is likely to depart Tallaght for the UK in the near future. The only player missing was Neil Farrugia who Bradley confirmed is recovering well from his injury and is likely to return towards the end of September.

Referee: Petri Viljanen (Finland)

MATCH STATS
Graham Burke’s goal in last month’s Champions League qualifier against Slovan Bratislava made the 28-year-old player the Shamrock Rovers record goal scorer in Europe. That was his fifth goal in European action for the Hoops. He has got eight goals for Rovers in the league plus one in Europe – five of his nine goals this season have come from the penalty spot. 

The match winner in the first leg, 17-year-old Aidomo Emakhu, became Rovers’ youngest goalscorer in Europe. The previous youngest scorer was Gay O’Carroll who, as an 18-year-old, scored in the first leg of their UEFA Cup 4-0 away win Fram Reykjavik in September 1982.

Stephen Bradley is set to manage Shamrock Rovers in Europe for the 17^th time, eclipsing the record managerial appearance of 16 games held by Michael O’Neill. Bradley’s record going into this tie is six wins, four draws and six defeats. O’Neill managed three wins in Europe with John Giles winning four European games.

PREDICTION

1-1 (2-1 aggreate win for Rovers)

Teuta

Injured: Lorenzo Vila

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Shamrock Rovers 

Injured: Neil Farrugia

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Stephen Bradley forecasting a positive approach in the Albanian heat https://t.co/VOC10N2Wfdpic.twitter.com/BKWtO6JsxL

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) August 11, 2021