UEFA Europa Conference League Matchday Four
Rapid Wien v Shamrock Rovers
(Thursday, 8pm, Allianz Stadion, Vienna)
It’s been three weeks since Shamrock Rovers played a competitive match. With a trip to Stamford Bridge on the horizon, they will hope a lack of game time doesn’t come back to bite them in the Irish off-season.
Because it’s been a superb debut campaign in the UEFA Europa League. Tomorrow’s opponents Legia Warsaw are one of only six teams to have accumulated more points than the SSE Airtricity Premier Division runners-up.
Rovers sit seventh, with two wins and a draw, in an European tournament of 36 teams.
Their last fixture was a crucial home win over The New Saints, as Dylan Watts and Johnny Kenny’s goals overcame the Welsh outfit having gone behind early on.
Their 4-1 victory in Windsor Park against Larne was another they would have been banking on, but the manner of victory was decisive.
Now there is the interesting sub-plot in the Irish league next year as ex-Larne boss Tiernan Lynch takes over Derry City. The League of Ireland is in the best place it has been in quite a while.
Attendances are soaring. In May, they were up 20% on the previous year according to UEFA research. The European average was just over a third of that.
And with Rovers’ new stand at Tallaght Stadium, those figures will likely go up once more.
That will not be on Rapid Vienna’s radar however, as it is Stephen Bradley’s charges who face an away day trip to the Austrian capital.
And their opponents are three from three in this competition, while they haven’t been beaten in the league since August. Rapid Vienna sit second domestically as they go in search of a 33rd Austrian league title.
Istanbul Basaksehir are the pick of the teams they’ve beaten on the continent, with the Turkish side having accounted for Manchester United in the 2020/21 Champions League group stage.
The Austrians have more pedigree than most in this competition, qualifying for two European Cup quarter-finals in the past, as well as one semi-final back in 1960/61, but they haven’t reached the Champions League group stages since 2005/06.
Experienced striker Guido Burgstaller has been prominent in their Conference League matches to date - with 26 appearances for Austria to his name - while Mamadou Sangare and Louis Schaub will look to dictate the terms of engagement in the midfield.
For Rovers, it looks as though they will sit tight and counter-attack in the 28,000 seater Allianz Stadion.
Graham Burke and Johnny Kenny will need to maximise any opportunity if The Hoops are to cause an upset, one which the bookies have marked at 11/1.