AEK – Levski

The Greek champion will defeat the opponent in his arena

This year marks exactly ten years since the last time a Bulgarian representative reached the Champions League group stage. In 2016, the country’s perennial champion Ludogorets, who had been dominant for about a decade and a half, progressed to the group stage of Europe’s elite tournament and managed to finish third there, being eliminated in the Europa League playoffs. Levski interrupted Ludogorets' supremacy on the national stage in last year’s Bulgarian championship, finishing ten points ahead of the rival in the standings. Of course, none of Levski’s current squad remembers their club’s performances in the Champions League, which last took place twenty years ago. At the same time, over the last 15 years the team has earned the right to participate in the qualifiers for secondary continental tournaments ten times and has never progressed beyond them. This time Levski will certainly obtain the right to participate, at least in the Europa League group stage. However, the Bulgarian team’s ambitions already lie in the Champions League, only one step away from the group stage. And their upcoming opponent should take these ambitions seriously. At least the previous three qualification rounds Levski passed quite confidently. Borac Banja Luka, Universitatea Craiova, and Kairat Almaty have been beaten. A fairly serious path has been overcome, but opponents like AEK have not yet faced the Bulgarian side. And if you look at the results of the past qualification rounds, it’s notable that Levski has secured only one away win—in the match against Kairat, which was a loss by all other statistical indicators. AEK, in the previous season, convincingly won the Greek championship, finishing ahead of Olympiakos and PAOK. In Bulgaria a week ago the team adopted a restrained style of play, aiming to decide the winner of the tie on their home turf. This task was accomplished — in a fairly even match the opponents finished 0-0. Recently AEK began the new season in the Greek championship with a 4-0 victory over Iraklis. Having players such as Luka Jović in the squad, AEK will have an advantage over opponents at home and will finish the match with a win in regular time.