UEFA Europa Conference League action returns over the week as Qarabag invite Marseille to the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in the second leg of the knockout stage playoffs on Thursday.
The visitors secured a comfortable 3-1 win in the first leg fixture last week and should fancy their chances of making it into the next round. The Ligue 1 club suffered a 2-0 loss at home in their league outing over the weekend and will be hoping to return to winning ways.
The hosts head into the game with a week's rest and might be able to put up some resistance in their home game.
Qarabag vs Marseille Head-to-Head
This will be just the second competitive game between the two sides. The first leg at Stade Valderome ended in a 3-1 win for the French club thanks to Arkadiusz Milik's first-half brace.
Qarabag form guide (all competitions): L-W-W-L-D
Marseille form guide (all competitions): L-W-W-L-W
Qarabag vs Marseille Team News
Qarabag
Shahrudin Mahammadaliyev was not included in the squad for the first leg tie and is not expected to feature in this game. Hüseyn Hüseynzade, Gaspar Panadero and Jaime Romero were removed from the squad list for the knockout stage fixtures and remain unavailable for selection.
Injured: None
Doubtful: Shahrudin Mahammadaliyev
Suspended: None
Unavailable: Hüseyn Hüseynzade, Gaspar Panadero, Jaime Romero
Marseille
Les Phocéens travel to Baku with a fully-fit squad. Luis Henrique has been left out of the squad for the knockout stage and remains unavailable. Valentin Rongier returns from a one-game suspension in this game and is in contention to start here.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Qarabag vs Marseille Predicted XI
Qarabag Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Luka Gugeshashvili (GK); Marko Vešović, Rahil Mammadov, Kevin Medina, Toral Bayramov; Richard Almeida, Ismayil Ibrahimli; Kady, Filip Ozobić, Abdellah Zoubir; Ramil Sheydaev
Marseille Predicted XI (4-3-1-2): Pau Lopez (GK); Pol Lirola, Leonardo Balerdi, William Saliba, Duje Caleta-Car; Matteo Guendouzi, Boubacar Kamara, Gerson; Dimitri Payet, Arkadiusz Milik, Cengiz Under
Qarabag vs Marseille Prediction
The hosts have enjoyed a good run in the Azerbaijan Cup and are yet to concede a goal in two knockout stage games so far. They put up a good fight in the first leg and will not go down without a fight in this game.
Marseille are back in action on Sunday and they might choose to start key players from the bench in this game. Qarabag are not in action until April, so they are expected to field their strongest possible XI here.
Taking everything into consideration, a narrow win for the visiting side seems to be the likely outcome here.
Prediction: Qarabag 1-2 Marseille