Neman – Rayo Vallecano

The Grodno club will lose to the Spaniards in the first match of the confrontation on Hungarian territory.

After the exit from the qualification of the Conference League, Dynamo Minsk, Dynamo Brest, and Torpedo-BelAZ, Hrodna's Neman unexpectedly remained on the brink of Belarusian football in Europe. It was unexpected, considering the current position of the club in the national championship. However, this was to be expected from Neman. In their country, the Hrodna team became a true cup specialist managing to win the Belarusian Cup two years in a row. Neman started in the first round of the Conference League qualification and made it to the decisive matches for entry into the group stage, not without adventures. The Belarusian team achieved success even despite the necessity to play home matches on neutral ground. They will begin their confrontation against Rayo Vallecano in the city of Szeged, located in southern Hungary. The nominal guests from Madrid have never won anything in their history. Rayo Vallecano has only participated in European cups during the 2000/2001 season (UEFA Cup), where they miraculously qualified on Fair Play principles. Despite the inexperience of the Spanish representative, they managed to reach the quarter-finals of the second-tier competition in Europe. Bookmakers have made the nominal guests the favourites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.18 for their victory. The Belarusian Football Federation, looking at Neman's successes in the Conference League qualification, extended the team's break in championship matches into July. While from the first day of August other clubs are playing matches in the Premier League, the Hrodna team is competing only in Europe. Over the past one and a half months, Neman has easily passed Urartu in the first round of qualification, overcame Košice with minor difficulties in the second, and barely made it through Klaksvik in the third. They had to go through a penalty shootout against the Faroese club, in which Neman prevailed. Of course, in terms of the quality of players, the Belarusian team falls short of their opponent from Madrid. Rayo Vallecano entered the European cups from the eighth position of La Liga, pushing Osasuna out based on additional indicators. At the Spanish level, this club remains a mid-table team; however, for the Conference League, it is indeed a top club. For instance, the value of the Madrid squad is estimated to be 15 times higher than that of Neman. The Belarusian club will struggle with the task already in the first match.