Bulgaria's Ludogorets Chase 4th Win in Europa League, Draw Enough

Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad will host Ukrainian Chernomorets Odessa in the 4th round of the Europa League group stage, on Thursday night.

Ludogorets need only a draw to guarantee themselves a place in the next phase of the tournament. They are currently top of their group with a full set of 9 points, and are among the 3 teams who are yet to concede a goal.

Chernomorets will be keen to get revenge for their home defeat to Ludogorets a fortnight ago. A loss could mean the Ukrainians will be all but out of the tournament, should PSV Eindhoven earn a win against Dinamo Zagreb in the other match.

The Bulgarian champions are faced with a number of problems ahead of the clash. Captain Svetoslav Dyakov is suspended, while Alexandre Barthe, Hristo Zlatinski, and Junior Caicara are doubtful due to injuries. The trouble is, that their possible replacements Tero Mantyla and Georgi Terziev are also recently recovered, and may not be in their best form.

Coach Stoycho Stoev admitted that despite the win in Odessa, this had been their most difficult match in the groups. His counterpart Roman Grigorchuk revealed that he is aware of both the weak and the strong components of Ludogorets, and expects his team to win this time.

Ludogorets and Chernomorets kick off at 8 PM at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia. The referee will be Stefan Johannesson from Sweden.

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