FC Twente take on Austrian powerhouse Red Bull Salzburg at De Grolsch Veste on Tuesday when they look to overturn the 2-1 deficit from the first-leg of their Champions League third-round qualifier.
Danish midfielder Maurits Kjaergaard scored twice to give RB Salzburg the lead before their trip to Enschede for the decisive second leg.
Brought on as a second-half substitute, Michel Vlap's late free-kick kept FC Twente's Champions League hopes alive after their trip to Salzburg.
Even if RB Salzburg finds a way past FC Twente, a playoff against either Dynamo Kyiv or Rangers would then stand in their way.
The Tukkers returned to European competitions as Joseph Oosting's side finished third in the Eredivisie last season. They now have the opportunity to storm Europe's premium competition.
FC Twente are in the Champions League for the first time since 2011-12, when they suffered a 5-3 aggregate loss to Benfica in the play-off round. With that said, The Tukkers are now bidding to reach the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2010-11 and they need to overturn RB Salzburg'sone goal lead.
The Reds returned to winning ways a few days following their trip to Salzburg. Joseph Oosting's side kicked-off the new Eredivisie campaign with a 2-1 win at NEC Nijmegen on Saturday.
If everyone is fully fit, Joseph Oosting could be tempted to name an unchanged starting XI to the one that started in Austria, even though the likes of Bas Kuipers, Sayfallah Ltaief, Michel Vlap and Sam Lammers (most of whom summer signings) have all produced strong performances at the weekend.
Sam Lammers got off the mark for his new club as Twente ran out 2-1 winners against NEC Nijmegen, while Alec Van Hoorenbeeck's second-half header turned out to be the match winner.
The Tukkers entered the first-leg with veteran-forward Ricky van Wolfswinkel as captain following the departure of Robin Propper, who joined Scottish giants Rangers - Twente's potential playoff opponents. Meanwhile, summer signing Sam Lammers was only on the bench in Salzburg and was introduced as a late substitute.
While the FC Twente boss opted to rest Van Wolfswinkel in his side's Eredivisie opener, instead fielding Sam Lammers up front, Twente's skipper should now reclaim his place in an attack that averaged over two goals per game in last season's Eredivisie (69 goals in 34 top-flight matches). Yet, Twente only had the fifth best attack in the Eredivisie last term, but they had the third strongest defense after champions PSV Eindhoven and runners-up Feyenoord.
Sem Steijn finished as FC Twente' top scorer last season, and the 22-year-old attacking midfielder is set to support Van Wolfswinkel on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, Michal Sadilek remains unavailable for FC Twente. Elsewhere, Youri Reeger picked up an injury in the first half of his side's victory over NEC Nijmegen and the versatile Netherlands U21 international remains a doubt for Twente.
Unlike their opponents, RB Salzburg have been regulards in UEFA competitions over the past decade and even though they failed to win the domestic Championship last year, they're still a force to reckon with.
Dutch manager Pep Lijnders still finds himself in the early days of his RB Salzburg tenure as the former Jurgen Klopp assistant succeeded Gerhard Struber, who was dismissed way back in April following a run of inconclusive results, which ultimately saw The Red Bulls failing to win a domestic trophy last season.
Red Bull Salzburg finished behind Sturm Graz, even though the Red Bulls were first at the end of regular season. However, they ultimately lost the Austrian Championship for the first time in 11 years (since 2012-13).
Pep Lijnders' side followed up last week's first-leg victory with a dominant 5-1 Bundesliga success over BW Linz, meaning they've won all four of their competitive matches so far in 2024/25, scoring 16 goals in the process. Another showing like that here would see RB Salzburg take another step towards reaching the main draw of the Champions League for a sixth consecutive season.
There's still work to be done, and there's no doubt Lijnders will be all too aware of his side's recent poor Champions League away record. Indeed, the Red Bulls have won only one of their last 10 away games in the competition (losing five), though that sole 2-0 victory did come in last year's group stage against Portuguese giants Benfica. Furthermore, a draw is also a perfectly acceptable outcome for this clash.
Following their own sustainable model, RB Salzburg have already said goodbye to some departing first-team figures this summer, confirming the transfers of Strahinja Pavlovic to AC Milan and Luka Sucic to Real Sociedad, while others may follow suit.
Moreover, Karim Konate - who bagged 20 top-flight goals last season - recently suffered a knee injury and may be out of action until next month. Thus, the Ivory Coast striker joins Austrian goalkeeper Alexander Schlager, Japanese international Takumu Kawamura as well as Brazilian forward Fernando on the sidelines.
Israel playmaker Oscar Gloukh will be full of confidence after remarkably netting the first hat-trick of his career inside just 62 minutes during the 5-1 win against BW Linz on Saturday.
Petar Ratkov started the first leg but the young Serbian striker was substituted midway through the second-half so Adam Daghim is also pushing for a start here.
Hendry Blank was also forced off at the break of RB Salzburg's 2-1 win over Twente last week and it remains to be seen whether the German teenager will be fit to start on Tuesday evening. If not, Kamil Piatkowski is expected to continue alongside Samson Baidoo at center-back.
FC Twente will need to overcome a Salzburg side in rampant early-season form. Considering their greater experience on the continental stage, bookmakers expect RB Salzburg to finish the job in Enschede. The Red Bulls can thrive on the counter-attack, cleverly waiting off their goal-chasing hosts.
However, we still expect FC Twente to capitalize on their home advantage in what could be another high-scoring game.
