Konyaspor vs BATE Borisov Preview

Turkish club Konyaspor will look to book their place in the next round of the 2022/23 Europa Conference League this Thursday when they welcome Belarusian side BATE Borisov to Konya Buyuksehir Belediye Stadium for the second leg of their UECL fixture.

The hosts come into this tie with a strong first leg advantage, having beaten their visitors in the first leg in this same stadium.

Despite losing a man in the first half, goals from Zymer Bytyqi, Konrad Michalak and Robert Muric gave them a commanding lead heading into this second leg.

They just have to keep a clean sheet in this game to guarantee them entrance into the next stage of the tournament where they will face either FC Koper or FC Vaduz.

They head into Thursday’s contest with an impressive home record as they have lost only two of their last 22 competitive matches at the Konya Buyuksehir Torku Arena over the last 12 months.

Meanwhile, the visitors will look to do the impossible by overturning a 3-0 deficit when they face Konyaspor in the second leg.

Aleksandr Mikhaylov’s side come into this tie in poor form as they are currently on a winless run in all tournaments of four matches.

They remain a dominant force in the Belarusian top flight as they have finished in the top two in each of the last 17 years, winning the title on 13 of those occasions, including last season.

The Yellow-Blues are currently sitting at the top of the league table this term after 15 games, but their lead has been cut to just one point after failing to win three successive league matches.

They will hope for a better outing this time around as they look to qualify for the group stage of any European competition for the first time since 2018-19.