Will Drita defend their lead from the first leg?
There are no gaps between competitions in this year’s soccer calendar. The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is over, and the first round of Champions League qualifying has already begun. In our Differdingen vs. Drita tip, we are already looking ahead to a second-leg match in the first round.
The visitors from Kosovo are facing a Luxembourg club in European qualifying for only the second time in their history. In 2018/2019, they were defeated 2-3 by F91 Dudelange. The Kosovan champions will be looking to avoid another defeat in the Differdingen vs. Drita prediction.
Differdange – Statistics & current form
The first qualifying rounds of the three European competitions are a big showcase for the top clubs from the smaller footballing nations. Differdange earned their place on the promised stage by defending their title in the Luxembourg championship.
Coach Pedro Resende led the merged club to both of the aforementioned championships. The title in the past season was particularly spectacular. The FCD conceded no more than seven goals throughout the entire season. Nevertheless, Resende’s contract expired without being renewed.
President Fabrizio Bei subsequently gave Pedro Silva the authority to lead the Luxembourg champions into the next season. However, like his last predecessors, the 33-year-old has not managed to win an away game in European competition. Instead, FCD remained winless away from home for the 13th time in a row against Drita.
Will Differdingen fail to score again in their home game?
The new man on the sidelines is taking full responsibility for a first team for the first time. His preferred 3-4-3 system is familiar from his previous work in youth and junior football and, by all appearances, is likely to be the first option for FCD in the future.
So far, Silva’s players have only had promising scoring opportunities in training. In the first leg, Differdange had only one shot (7) fewer than Drita (8), but scored significantly fewer expected goals (0.72 xG) than their opponents from Kosovo (1.32 xG).
The goal drought in Champions League qualifying has been going on since their last attempt in the qualifiers. Last year, FCD made their debut in the CL qualifiers, but ended both games against KI Klaksvik without a goal or a win (0-2, 0-0). According to our Differdingen vs. Drita prediction, the hosts are likely to face another game without scoring.
Predicted line-up for Differdingen:
Felipe – Bedouret, Brusco, D’Anzico – Lempereur, Bruninho, Jakobi, Franzoni – Abreu, Hadji, Rafa Pinto
Injured or suspended:
Barbosa (torn knee ligament), Mendy (torn medial ligament), Pacheco (unknown)
Drita – Statistics & current form
Zekirija Ramadani’s team is much more experienced than their opponents from Luxembourg. The 47-year-old has never coached a professional team for longer than FC Drita (73 games). His success with the “intellectuals” – as the visitors like to be called – is reflected in their strong points average of 1.93 points per game.
Ramadani tends to focus on a classic 4-2-3-1 system, which transitions smoothly into a 4-4-2 formation when defending. At the national level, this basic tactical approach helped end the dominance of KF Balkani, who had previously won the championship in three consecutive seasons.
The performances in the last Conference League qualifiers in 2024/2025 gave the visitors important experience in dealing with European opponents. After the intellectuals prevailed against Breidablik in the second qualifying round (2-1, 1-0), Ramadani’s team also survived extra time against Auda (0-1, 3-1 a.e.t.). It was only against Legia Warsaw (0-2, 0-1) that their quality was no longer enough.
Drita leaves little space in defense
Just like in Differdange against Drita Tipp, the Kosovans have scored less than 3.5 goals in their previous six European matches – at least within regular time. We think the visitors’ defense can build on their performance from the first leg.
Ramadani’s team controlled possession (55 percent), won significantly more defensive duels (64 percent) than FCD (53.5 percent) and always assessed the risk of attacking defense correctly, so that the high pressing line only allowed 6.44 passes per defensive action.
Passes into the final third were accordingly rare (48), giving goalkeeper Faton Maloku a relatively quiet day at work. However, the visitors know from past European qualifying matches that no game is easy. Drita has won only one of its seven previous qualifying matches for a European competition. That may explain the closely matched Differdingen vs. Drita odds.
Predicted line-up for Drita:
Maloku – Krasniqi, Bejtulai, Mesa, Ovouka – Balaj, Dabiqaj, Limaj, Ajzeraj – Krasniqi, Manaj
Injured or suspended:
Isufi (back problems)
Differdingen – Drita Head-to-head record / H2H record
The two opponents have not met before in the run-up to the first leg. We wouldn’t want to read too much into the last match between the intellectuals and a Luxembourg club when making our Differdange – Drita prediction.
Differdange – Drita Tip
Drita emerged as the slightly stronger team in the first encounter, even if you take the home crowd factor out of the equation. With the result of the first leg in mind, the visitors can focus their match plan on defense – a clear advantage.
We would also like to point out the home team’s recent record in European qualifiers. Differdange has won only one of its seven previous home games in qualifying for one of the three major competitions. Our recommendation: “Double chance X2 & Under 3.5 goals.”