The 2022/23 season has already kicked off for some of our European contenders, and there was live competitive action on some pitches for the first time since May. We take a look at what happened with Dudelange, Differdange and Fola Esch in Europe.
One-goal advantage heading to Tirana
A packed Stade Jos Nosbaum watched as Dudelange stepped onto the pitch to face Albanian champions Tirana. The anticipation was justified by the quality of the game, as both teams generally tried to play direct attacking football, with Dudelange often relying on the ability of wingers Mehdi Kirch and Eliot Gashi to cross.
The state of play was radically changed by a harsh second yellow for F91 captain Kirch, which was then followed by another red card, this time for the away team.
The game’s only goal came at 71 minutes due to Mohcine Hassan’s nice finishing. Thus, F91 achieved their plan for this week to get an advantage ahead of playing in front of the tough Albanian crowd next week, when they will also be missing Kirch on the pitch.
Sloppy Olimpija defence gives Differdange hope
On Thursday, Differdange played Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana as resounding underdogs in the first qualifying round of the Europa Conference League.
Differdange managed to start the game on the front foot as Olimpija’s defenders stood shocked, and seemingly unprepared, for the waves of attacks from FCD.
The first goal came soon, too, as Cabral’s shot was parried by goalkeeper Vidovsek at one of his own defenders, deflecting into the net.
It took quite some time for Olimpija to get back into the game after the horrible opening, but they managed to outplay Differdange in the second half.
FCD’s depth on the bench doesn’t look convincing enough yet, and with the Slovenians seemingly having superior stamina levels, they could have done with more opportunities to choose from as the legs grew heavy towards the end.
The equaliser came after one of Olimpja’s numerous corners, but it felt avoidable by some better positioning from FCD goalkeeper Guillaume Cappa. The task is now simple: whoever wins at the Stade Municipal next week, goes through.
Transitioning Fola team in shocking collapse
After the 2021/22 season, circumstances have changed at Fola: manager Sébastien Grandjean was replaced by his former assistant Miguel Correia, several key players from past seasons (including Sylvio Ouassiero, Bruno Freire or Grégory Grisez, amongst others) have been released, and on several occasions, their places in the team were filled up by youngsters looking to make their first steps in senior football.
And that’s how we got to the point of Fola lining up with six natural defenders at home against Sammarinese opponents.
Regardless of the unusual personnel and structure on the field, Fola were still dominating for most of the match, until Tre Fiori took the lead five minutes before the end.
Núnez Mastroianni’s decider means that Fola will have to turn the tie around away from home next week in order to avoid one of the most embarrassing aggregate score lines in recent Luxembourgish club football history.
