Both Metalurg and Renova play the return legs of their respective matchups today with each club trailing by two goals on aggregate after the first legs.

Metalurg hosts Ruch Chorzów in Kumanovo with the game starting at 17:00 CET.  In the first leg, Metalurg took a 0:1 lead in the 69th minute but then conceded three goals after the 74th minute for a 3:1 defeat, one goal coming in stoppage time.  Conceding late goals has been a problem for Macedonian teams in European competitions, occurring frequently especially when a team happens to take a lead.  It appears that the teams relax a little bit and that leads to lack of concentration and conceding of goals.  The problem for Metalurg in the first leg was the aerial defending, primarily by the two CB’s, as two Ruch goals came on headers by striker Arkadiusz Piech who is 1.70 m tall and is not known for his aerial abilities.  At yesterday’s press conference, Metalurg coach Gjorgji Hristov mentioned that his team has a better feel for Ruch’s strengths and weaknesses and was adamant that Metalurg will do everything possible to fight for a win.  For Metalurg to advance in the competition, a score of 2:0 would do the trick.  The referee for this match will be Hüseyin Göçek from Turkey.

As for Renova, the chances of advancing are even slimmer considering the return leg is on the road.  Their opponent from Belarus, Gomel, won the first leg 2:0 and controlled the majority of the game in Kumanovo.  The incentive is high for both teams since the winner of this matchup faces famous English club Liverpool in the next round.  Obviously, the players of both clubs are motivated to play against such a prestigious opponent, but Gomel has the clearcut edge heading into today’s game.  Renova will aim to make this game high scoring and look for some breaks in overcoming the first leg deficit.  Jérome Nzolo from Belgium is the assigned referee with the match starting at 18:00 CET.