Riga vs Malmo

Riga have a mountain to climb as they take on Malmo in the return leg of their Champions League qualifying tie at the Stadions Skonto, hoping to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit.

Though a narrow 1-0 first-leg defeat leaves Riga with reasonable hopes of making a miracle and dump Malmo out of the competition, back-to-back losses ‘to nil’ douse any embers of optimism heading into the return leg. Since being held to a 1-1 away draw to domestic rivals Daugavpils in late May, none of Riga’s subsequent seven competitive matches have ended level (W4, L3), with five of the games won/lost in that sequence yielding a single-goal margin. With that said, Andris Riherts’ men have been a force to be reckoned with at home lately, winning each of their last seven home outings in all competitions in a row by an aggregate scoreline of 16-3. Even if they concede first here, the hosts should have enough character to bounce back, considering they’ve won both of their previous home matches after falling behind.

Meanwhile, Malmo head into proceedings on the back of a 4-0 thrashing of domestic opposition Sirius in the national championship, which means that none of their ten matches have ended as a draw (W7, L3), friendlies included. Curiously, all but one of Malmo’s seven victories during that ten-game sequence saw them score over 1.5 goals, with the reverse fixture success being the lone exception to this run. An indifferent away form could be a problem, though, with the Swedish giants picking up just two wins in their last six road trips in all competitions (D1, L3), failing to keep a clean sheet on each occasion. Yet, there’s been plenty of entertainment in Malmo’s recent away games, as four of their last five road trips have seen over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet.