Europa League: Thessaloniki vs Rijeka! Is the striker too weak, wasting chances? The home team also has some quality players

Today, our first match discussion is aboutthe Europa League: Thessaloniki vs Rijeka!

In football matches, having greater strength does not necessarily mean victory.

This is especially true in European competitions, where many stronger teams perform poorly away from home due to all kinds of strange external factors.

Take Thessaloniki for example, they were clearly stronger in the first leg but ended up losing sadly.

However, before tonight’s decisive match,they have announced the return of 4 players, leaving only one substitute winger, Shoretidire, unavailable. The squad is much more complete than in the first leg. Do they have a chance?

In the first leg, although Rijeka played at home, they were completely dominated and played very passively.

Even though they won in the end,their attacking quality was actually very poor, relying mostly on headers and long shots to guess their way throughwithout producing any sharp positional attacks.

In such games, it’s normal to get lucky, but also normal not to.

At home, players tend to develop muscle memory and can guess better.

Away, players are unfamiliar, lacking fixed points of reference and tactical cues, making it harder to guess well.

Based on their first leg performance, this away match will likely be very tough.

In the first leg, Thessaloniki’s attack was actually quite good, creating some chances through positional play.

But unfortunately, there were always small mistakes or bad luck, like Ivanusec hitting the crossbar this time.

Of course, missing chances is also related to ability; their shooting technique may still be a bit weak.

But today, if you have some quality, they also have quality.

For example, three returning forwards today are quite capable.

Jakumakis has won the Dutch Eredivisie and Scottish Premiership Golden Boots, Tyson was the Ukrainian Premier League MVP, and Despodov was Bulgaria’s Footballer of the Year for five consecutive years — all strong players.

Note: besides their good individual skills,they also cover the center forward, left winger, and right winger positions, meaning they have an entire new attacking trio.

Having an extra attacking trio is very important. Why does coach Lucescu complain thatthe pressing intensity in the first leg was insufficient?

A major reason is the lack of a second attacking trio and substitutes, so forwards couldn’t maintain high-intensity pressing throughout.

This greatly affects Thessaloniki, as they heavily rely on high pressing. Last season, they had the second-highest number of high pressing interceptions in the Greek Super League. Without enough pressing intensity, the match won’t be the same.

Coincidentally, the home team has gained three forwards,while the away team lost a key central defender— Radelic, who performed well in the first leg, will definitely miss the match, possibly weakening their defense.

For Croatian teams, playing away in Greece is already very challenging.

Because the fans of both sides are not very friendly, and after Croatian fans caused a shocking tragedy in Athens in 2023 that stunned Europe, the hostility between them has intensified.

Since then, Croatian teams’ records in Greece have been poor.

For example, last year, Thessaloniki faced Croatian powerhouse Dinamo Zagreb in the knockout stage, losing 2-0 away in the first leg but scoring 5 goals at home to complete a comeback.

This time, it’s Rijeka’s turn to experience the legendary “Toumba Hell,” a place even Zagreb struggles with. How will Rijeka, worth only half the value, fare?

Can Thessaloniki satisfy their fans? What do you all think? I’m looking forward to them securing a proper win.

Alright, for other matches today, I will still send text opinions to you tonight. If anything is unclear, feel free to ask me. “Watch and understand the game,” don’t miss it!

If you like it, please give a follow and a like!