Progrès Niedercorn vs Cardiff MU tips

In 2018 Niederkorn once again made it through the first round, as they beat Azerbaijani side Qabala (2-1 on aggregate). Not only did the team from Luxembourg get through one round, but they also beat Hungarian side Honved (2-1 on aggregate) before eventually being eliminated by Ufa, though they did draw with the Russians at this venue. Such form bodes very well ahead of a game against a Cardiff Met side that has never previously featured in the UEL qualifying.

The fact that Cardiff Metropolitan, who finished sixth in the Welsh Premier League last season and who’re set to become the first ever British University team to play in the Europa League, have never played on the continent before does mean that they’re at a disadvantage here.

Niederkorn, who hail from Luxembourg, have never reached the Europa League proper, though they did prove to be more than the sum of their parts when beating Rangers (over two legs) in qualifying a few years ago. Thursday’s hosts will be hoping to see off welsh opposition, so they can have another crack at decent opposition in the next round.

Beginning the season in the Europa League preliminaries is becoming a bit of a habit for Niederkorn, who’ve now taken part in UEL qualifying in each of the last three seasons. They were also involved back in 2015 too. In 2017, the side from Luxembourg made it further than this stage, as they delivered an upset against Scottish giants Rangers, winning 2-1 aggregate before being narrowly knocked out by AEL of Cyprus.

Not only have Thursday’s visitors never competed in UEL qualifying, but they’re not exactly known as being the best travellers domestically, or at least they’re susceptible to conceding plenty of goals, as they come here without a clean sheet in five on the road, while they also conceded multiple goals on several occasions when playing away from home last season.

Considering that Niederkorn are vastly more experienced at this level than their opponents, it’s not surprising that they come into this game as big favourites.

Their exploits at home, where they’ve shut out the likes of Honved and Rangers in the last couple of seasons, in UEL qualifying point towards something of straightforward victory and punters can profit by backing ‘Niederkorn to Win & Under 2.5 Goals’. The hosts have the nous and experience at this level to gain an advantage ahead of the second leg, though as they’ve never scored more than twice at home in qualifying, they’re backed to win without completely running riot.