Swedish side BK Hacken are favourites to defeat Lithuania’s FK Zalgiris and progress to a Europa League play-off tie with Aberdeen, according to journalists who know the respective clubs.
The sides meet in a third qualifying round tussle over the next two Thursdays, and the victors will move on to another two-legged tie against the Dons – the final obstacle to confirming a slot in the Europa League group stage.
We spoke to journalist Linus Petersson, who spent several years working in Gothenburg covering Hacken for the Goteborg-Posten newspaper and website, and Tomas Gustas, a sports writer who covers Zalgiris for Lithuanian media company Lietuvos rytas.
They not only gave The Press and Journal a sense of which side they consider favourites and underdogs to get through to take on the Reds, but also profiled Hacken and Zalgiris: their coaches, players, the mood around them and their hopes for the campaign at home and in Europe.
Hacken ‘favourites’ – but Zalgiris will ‘like’ underdogs status
Both insiders agreed Swedish Allsvenskan champions Hacken have the edge over last term’s A Lyga winners Zalgiris, who are based in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius.
The first leg of the third qualifying round clash takes place in Lithuania (Thursday, 5pm GMT), and Hacken expert Petersson thinks the Swedes will be confident, saying: “Absolutely they’re going in as favourites for this tie.
“I think they’ll be quite happy with the draw.”
Hacken and Zalgiris both dropped out of Champions League qualifying at the second round, against the Faroese side KI Klaksvik and Turkish giants Galatasaray, respectively.
Zalgiris-focused journalist Gustas concurs the Lithuanian side will be underdogs against their Swedish rivals, as well as in a potential follow-up tie with Aberdeen – but thinks it is the role which tends to suit the team in European competition.
Gustas said: “Zalgiris will be a little bit the underdogs – but that’s good, they like that.
“They played in the first round of Champions League qualifying against Struga of North Macedonia and, in that pairing, Struga were the underdogs. Zalgiris struggled because of the psychology of ‘you need to defeat them, you are the better team, you need to get to the second round, (and) if you lose everybody will write bad things and not understand’.
“But Zalgiris will be underdogs against the Swedish champions and Aberdeen, in my eyes – but not huge underdogs.”
In contrast, should they progress, Petersson rates Hacken’s chances of beating the Dons to the Europa League group stage as “50/50”.
Hogmo’s high-octane ‘Hackenfotboll’
What is obvious from speaking to both journalists is there are notable parallels between BK Hacken and FK Zalgiris which go beyond the synthetic playing surfaces at both the Bravida Arena and LFF Stadionas.
Petersson and Gustas each pointed to the tactical abilities of the clubs’ respective head coaches – Hacken boss Per-Mathias Hogmo and Zalgiris’ Vladimir Cheburin.
Should Hacken end up being Aberdeen’s play-off foes, Barry Robson’s Dons are expected to meet a much-improved team to the one the newly-installed Hogmo watched lose 5-1 to Stephen Glass’ Reds at Pittodrie in the second round of Europa Conference League qualifying in 2021.
In Sweden’s 2022 season, Hacken won the Allsvenskan title for the first time in their history, completing a meteoric domestic rise under Hogmo’s stewardship.
Detailing Hacken’s high-octane style under the Norwegian coach, expert Petersson said: “I covered them for almost the whole season (2022) and you could see already in the pre-season they had something exciting going on – what they call ‘Hackenfotboll’. Very fast attacking, almost all times fast-building and everything should go really fast.
“I think it’s succeeded for Per-Mathias really well with that kind of change he made tactically.
“I would say their main strength is on the counter attack and focusing on having really fast players upfront.
“He plays 4-3-3 almost every time, and the three in the middle is one defensive midfielder with two number 10s.”
The improvements at Hacken since 2021 have also been the result of a recruitment strategy where “they got almost everything right”, according to Petersson.
This includes the “bargain” captures of the likes of Danish attacking midfielder Mikkel Rygaard from the Polish second division. He has recorded 17 league goals and 13 assists in one-and-a-half seasons.
Cheburin’s Zalgiris ‘try to play with fast breaks’
Meanwhile, Lithuania’s most-storied club Zalgiris were in a relatively lean period before appointing the former triple-title-winning coach of rivals Marijampoles Suduva in 2021.
Boss Cheburin has solidified a new era of Zalgiris dominance, leading the Vilnius club to the A Lyga crown in both 2021 and 2022.
Describing the Kazakh coach as “key” to their recent success, sports writer Gustas said: “Success and stability came when Cheburin started to coach Zalgiris.
“Cheburin has a very good understanding of Lithuanian football and its tactics.
“He is a coach who likes to play patient football from the defence.
“But also Zalgiris often try to play with fast breaks.
“He likes to play 4-4-2, but he also likes to mix formations for every different opponent.
“Sometimes he’ll put players in the game who haven’t had a lot of game-time, because he thinks they will provide good opposition to the other team.”
In terms of Zalgiris’ key men, Gustas pinpointed the “very fast feet” of Nigerian attacker Mathias Oyewusi, and last season’s Lithuanian player of the year, long-serving goalkeeper and vice-captain Edvinas Gertmonas.
Last week, former Hearts winger Arvydas Novikovas – another player who has been crowned Lithuania’s best in the past – joined Zalgiris in an attempt to breathe new life into a career which has stalled in the last couple of seasons.
Hacken and Zalgiris: Two teams who are ‘focused a lot on Europe’
Another echo between Hacken and Zalgiris is neither side currently tops the table domestically in defence of their respective league crowns.
Zalgiris trail FK Panevezys in the A Lyga standings, but Gustas attributes some of their domestic results in 2023 to “a lack of luck in many games” and still thinks they have every chance of defending their title.
However, he also believes some new signings the club made for 2023 are yet to match the performances of previous Zalgiris squads, adding: “I think their quality is a little bit lower than last year.”
This being said, Zalgiris drew 2-2 at home with Galatasary in their Champions League qualifying tie, and went on lose just 1-0 in Istanbul as they went toe-to-toe with the illustrious Turks.
Like Aberdeen, both Hacken and Zalgiris know a spot in the Europa League play-off round comes with the multi-million promise of group stage action in either the Europa League or Conference League.
Having made history by playing in the Conference League groups last season, Gustas thinks it would be a “disappointment” for his nation were the Vilnius side not to at least repeat an achievement which was “a huge moment for Zalgiris and for all Lithuanians”.
Petersson, on the other hand, believes Hacken’s weakened showing in the Allsvenskan so far in 2023 is a by-product of putting their focus on landing European group stage football for the first time in their 83-year history.
Their Champion League exit at the hands of a team from the Faroes was part of “a couple of dark weeks” in Continental qualification for Swedish sides.
Petersson gave his view the failure to replace leading scorer and creative force Benie Traore (sold to Sheffield United) in time for the tie was a contributing factor in what was an eventual, deeply frustrating penalty shoot-out loss to Klaksvik for Hacken.
However, they have since bolstered their options – and recorded an impressive domestic win – with Petersson adding: “They beat Elfsborg – maybe the best team in Sweden right now – with 10 men in second half.
“So they are a really, really good team, but struggled a little bit with that sale and the midfield (injuries v Klaksvik).
“I think they will be focused a lot on Europe, as we all know how much money you can bring in just by getting to the group stage.”
Hacken or Zalgiris’ Europa League play-off clash with Aberdeen will be played across Thursday, August 24 and 31, with the second leg at Pittodrie
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