Sheriff Tiraspol vs Alashkert

Sheriff Tiraspol and Alashkert will lock horns at the Stadionul Sheriff in the return leg of their Champions League qualifying tie.

Sheriff’s narrow 1-0 first-leg triumph in Armenia stretched their perfect start to the Champions League qualifying to three victories, all of which were ‘to nil.’ Particularly dangerous in the later stages of play, the ‘Zholto-chornyye’ have found the net beyond the 80th minute in two of their three Champions League qualifiers this term. Yet, Yury Vernydub’s men have struggled to impress home turf lately, picking up just a single win across their last four competitive home fixtures (D1, L2), three of which saw one or both sides fail to hit the net in matches garnering under 1.5 total goals. Before that run of games, Sheriff had racked up seven victories across their eight previous competitive home games in 2021 (D1), all of which featured a winning margin of 2+ goals.

Meanwhile, the visitors have a mountain to climb in Tiraspol, though a run of four consecutive competitive road trips without losing (W3, D1) comes in handy. There has been plenty of action in Alashkert’s recent away matches in all competitions, with four of their last six travels seeing over 2.5 goals and both teams scoring (W3, D1, L2). Alashkert needed a second-leg extra-time to negotiate their first-round qualifying tie against Connah’s Quay Nomads, with both legs ending level, including a 2-2 draw on the road. Overall, the ‘Yellows’ will be satisfied knowing they have troubled the scoresheet in each of their last six competitive trips ahead of this encounter. But they have managed just three clean sheets across their past nine away games in all competitions, which could pose a problem.