UEFA Europa Conference League
Fiorentina head home for the second leg of their Europa Conference League quarter final against Viktoria Plzen. The game is still in the balance, following a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the tie last week. That was a game that Fiorentina dominated, but failed to created too many meaningful chances, and they'll be looking to do more here, in front of their home fans.
Fiorentina Form GuideAnyone who watched the first leg of this game last week will be of the opinion that Fiorentina are the better side here, and have quite a big quality advantage. They didn't hammer home that in terms of good chances, but are at home here and are likely to face a team that wants to defend and do nothing else. Fiorentina may need to be patient, and clinical, but they can be both of those when at their best.
They were in action on Monday night in Serie A, so a quick turnaround here, but the good news is that there's no travel involved, both that game on Monday and this game here are at home. They drew 1-1 with Genoa that day, again it was a game they dominated, but they were unable to put their chances away.
Viktoria Plzen Form GuideWe saw nothing in the first leg that makes me think Viktoria Plzen are going to come here and do anything other than defend for their lives and hope to hold out. If they win this game, then it's going to be a very low scoring win. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it's a style of play that works for them, but if they go behind, it'll be interesting to see how much they change.
They have also played over the weekend, in between the two legs, and come here on the back of a 1-0 home win over Slavia Praha. They are going to be under a lot of pressure here, with a big crowd cheering on the home side to make it even tougher for them, so this is not going to be an easy assignment.
Match PredictionI am going to back Fiorentina on the Asian handicap line here, on the -1.5 line. That means, they need to win by two goals for the bet to win. I am hoping they score an early goal, force Plzen to attack more and leave gaps, and Fiorentina can take advantage of those and rack up another goal or two to win by a wide margin.
