Uefa Champions League
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UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - 2021/22 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS (First leg: 0-2) Ludogorets Arena - Razgrad Tuesday 24 August 2021 PFC Ludogorets 1945 21.00CET (22.00 local time) Malmö FF Play-off, Second leg Last updated 15/09/2021 16:37CET UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE OFFICIAL SPONSORS Previous meetings 2 Match background 3 Squad list 5 Match officials 7 Fixtures and results 8 Match-by-match lineups 11 Team facts 13 Legend 15 1 PFC Ludogorets 1945 - Malmö FF Tuesday 24 August 2021 - 21.00CET (22.00 local time) Match press kit Ludogorets Arena, Razgrad Previous meetings Head to Head UEFA Champions League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers Malmö FF - PFC Ludogorets Birmančević 26, 18/08/2021 PO 2-0 Malmo 1945 Berget 61 Home Away Final Total Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA PFC Ludogorets 1945 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 Malmö FF 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 PFC Ludogorets 1945 - Record versus clubs from opponents' country PFC Ludogorets 1945 have not played against a club from their opponents' country Malmö FF - Record versus clubs from opponents' country European Champions Clubs' Cup Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers Malmö FF - FC Lokomotiv Sofia 2-0 30/09/1964 PR Malmo Larsson 23 (P), 31 1929 agg: 5-8 Kotkov 6, 8, 28, 47, FC Lokomotiv Sofia 1929 - 59, Debarski 20, 42, 10/09/1964 PR 8-3 Sofia Malmö FF Milev 61; Ekström 15, Larsson 51, 62 Home Away Final Total Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA PFC Ludogorets 1945 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 Malmö FF 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 1 7 8 2 PFC Ludogorets 1945 - Malmö FF Tuesday 24 August 2021 - 21.00CET (22.00 local time) Match press kit Ludogorets Arena, Razgrad Match background Malmö are well placed to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage for the third time as they travel to Ludogorets defending a 2-0 first-leg advantage. • A goal in each half from Veljko Birmančević (26) and Jo Inge Berget (61) gave the Swedish champions victory over their Bulgarian counterparts in the first leg at the Malmö New Stadium. • That was the sides' first meeting, and Ludogorets' first game against a Swedish club. • Both teams have featured in the group stage twice, although Malmö have not been involved since 2015/16 while Ludogrets' last appearance came the following season. Form guide Ludogorets • Ludogorets made it ten successive Bulgarian league titles in 2020/21 – the longest ongoing run of any current European club, one more than Germany's Bayern München and two more than Austria's Salzburg – and are now aiming to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage for the third time – and the first since 2016/17. • Levski Sofia (2006/07) are the only other Bulgarian side to have reached the group stage. • This is Ludogorets' tenth UEFA Champions League campaign, and their fourth play-off. They beat Steaua București 6-5 on penalties in 2014/15 (1-1 aggregate) and Viktoria Plzeň in 2016/17 (4-2 agg) after losing their first tie, against Basel in 2013/14 (2-6 agg). • Ludogorets finished fourth in their group on their debut in the UEFA Champions League proper in 2014/15, picking up four points in a section that also involved Real Madrid, Liverpool and Basel, before coming third behind Paris Saint- Germain and Arsenal in 2016/17, where they finished ahead of Basel on three points. • The Eagles bowed out after two matches in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League, winning 3-1 at Montenegro's Budućnost Podgorica in their one-off first qualifying round tie before a 1-0 home defeat by Midtjylland in the next stage. • Ludogorets went on to beat Dinamo Brest 2-0 away in the UEFA Europa League play-offs but subsequently lost all six games in the group stage, ending bottom of a section that also involved Tottenham, LASK and Antwerp. • Before losing in Sweden the Razgrad side were unbeaten in their first six UEFA Champions League qualifiers this season (W3 D3), winning 1-0 home and away against Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus in the first qualifying round before a 3-1 aggregate success against Slovenian side Mura (0-0 a, 3-1 h). A pulsating third qualifying round tie against Olympiacos (1-1 a, 2-2 h) was eventually settled by penalties, Ludogorets prevailing 4-1 in the shoot-out after converting all of their kicks. • Ludogorets had lost five successive home European matches before 2021/22 and were without a win in seven (D1 L6). • The Bulgarian club won the first three of the five UEFA competition ties in which they suffered a first-leg away defeat, although they have lost the last two, most recently against Ferencváros in the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round (1-2 a, 2-3 h). They were also beaten when they suffered their sole previous 2-0 defeat in the away first leg, going out on away goals to Hapoel Beer-Sheva in the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round (3-1 h). • Ludogorets' record in two UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W2 L0: 6-5 v Steaua Bucureşti, 2014/15 UEFA Champions League play-off 4-1 v Olympiacos, 2021/22 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round Malmö • Malmö claimed their 21st Swedish title in 2020, their fifth triumph in the last eight Allsvenskan campaigns. They were beaten 2-1 by IFK Göteborg in the Swedish Cup final on 30 July 2020, denying them a first domestic double – and first cup win – since 1989. • Malmö's two previous UEFA Champions League group stage campaigns came in 2014/15 and 2015/16 – the latter the last time a Swedish club appeared at that stage. • Malmö finished fourth in their section on both previous group appearances, winning one game and losing the other five in each instance. Both victories came at home, against Olympiacos in 2014 (2-0) and Shakhtar Donetsk 12 months later (1-0). Those were two of only three group games in which the Swedish side scored. • Malmö have lost in UEFA Champions League qualifying twice since 2015/16, against Vardar of North Macedonia in the 2017/18 second qualifying round (4-2 aggregate) and Hungary's MOL Vidi in the third qualifying round in 2018/19 3 PFC Ludogorets 1945 - Malmö FF Tuesday 24 August 2021 - 21.00CET (22.00 local time) Match press kit Ludogorets Arena, Razgrad (1-1 agg, lost on away goals). • The Swedish side lost to Dinamo Zagreb in their first UEFA Champions League play-off in 2011/12 (3-4 aggregate) but have subsequently beaten Salzburg in 2014/15 (4-2 agg) and Celtic in 2015/16 (4-3 agg). • Malmö's 2020/21 European campaign lasted four matches. They eased through the first three UEFA Europa League qualifying games without conceding a goal, beating Cracovia (2-0) and Lokmotiva Zagreb (5-0) at home in the first and third qualifying rounds respectively either side of a 2-0 win at Honvéd in the second qualifying round, but then went down 3-1 at home to Granada in the play-offs. • Jon Dahl Tomasson's side edged through against Riga (1-0 h, 1-1 a) and HJK Helsinki (2-1 h, 2-2 a) in this season's UEFA Champions League first and second qualifying rounds respectively before winning 2-1 home and away against Scottish champions Rangers in the third qualifying round. Croatian forward Antonio Čolak scored five of Malmö's ten goals, including both at Ibrox against Rangers. • Malmö are unbeaten in their last four European away games (W2 D2), since a 2-1 loss at Wolfsburg in the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League round of 32 first leg; that is their only defeat in seven matches away from home in Europe (W3 D3). • Malmö have faced Bulgarian opposition only once before this tie, in the 1964/65 European Cup preliminary round when they went down to an 8-5 aggregate defeat against Lokomotiv Sofia (3-8 a, 2-0 h). Bo Larsson scored four of Malmö's five goals in what was their first UEFA competition tie. • Malmö have won 19 of the 26 UEFA competition ties in which they won the home first leg, including all three this season – making it ten victories in a row since losing on away goals to Nottingham Forest in the first round of the 1995/96 UEFA Cup (2-1 h, 0-1 a). When the home first leg has finished 2-0 their aggregate record is W4 L1, the most recent example against Hibernian in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round (7-0 a). • Malmö's record in two UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L1: 2-1 v Magdeburg, 1975/76 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round 4-5 v Dynamo Dresden, 1990/91 European Champion Clubs' Cup second round Links and trivia • Ludogorets coach Valdas Dambrauskas was in charge of the Žalgiris Vilnius side beaten by Malmö in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round (0-0 a, 0-1 h). • Malmö coach Tomasson scored three goals against Bulgaria as a Danish international, all past Zdravko Zdravkov – now goalkeeping coach at Ludogorets.