Form and Line-up Dinamo City
Dinamo City reached Conference League qualifying thanks to their triumph in the Albanian Cup. The final, played almost two months ago, was wild in terms of its storyline: Dinamo City and Egnatia each had a player sent off, while the White and Blues almost squandered a two-goal lead late on. That match showed that the Tirana side struggle to compete in top games. Recent friendlies against Sileks (2:1) and Struga (3:2 and 1:1) showed that Dinamo City's defence is unreliable.
Key numbers for Dinamo City:
Dinamo City conceded four goals in three pre-season friendlies.
Dinamo City ended last season with two shutout defeats against teams from the top 2 of the Albanian league: Elbasani (0:3) and Egnatia (0:2).
Dinamo City signed nine new players. The team have changed their squad significantly.
Probable Dinamo City line-up (4-4-2):
Aldo Teqja - Fabjan Perndreca, Naser Aliji, Bruno Dita, Ysni Ismaili - Tiago Nani, Isi Manellari, Klevi Qefalija, Ruben Silva-Richards - Hekuran Berisha, Ibrahim Mustapha.
Form and Line-up Astana
Astana have clear problems with results away from home, with no wins here since the start of April. On the other hand, Astana remain a top club by Kazakh standards, and only recently hosted Chelsea in the league phase of the Conference League. Babayan's side can clearly take confidence from their latest run: lively matches against a strong Zhenis side (2:2 and 1:0), and since the second half of May Astana have lost only to Aktobe (0:2).
Key numbers for Astana:
Babayan's team are noticeably more expensive in terms of total squad value than Dinamo City's group (10 million euros versus 6.5).
Astana have suffered just one defeat in their last six matches. They kept a clean sheet three times during that run.
Astana have scored 22 goals in the Kazakhstan Premier League, with only three teams scoring more.
Probable Astana line-up (4-1-4-1):
Josip Condric - Karlo Bartolec, Branimir Kalaica, Yan Vorogovskiy, Kipras Kazukolovas - Stanislav Basmanov - Dinmukhamed Karaman, Marin Tomasov, Alexander Merkel, Maksat Abraev - Ramazan Karimov
Who Will Referee the Match
Lukas Dzivjak (Slovakia)
Matches - 10 (Slovak Super Liga, 2025/26);
Average fouls per match - 24;
Average yellow cards per match (including second yellows) - 4.8;
Matches with a red card - 1 out of 10;
Matches with a penalty - 2 out of 10.
