As the UEFA Europa Conference League prepares for its return, Turkish sides Istanbul Başakşehir and Sivasspor will seek to gain the early upper hand over Gent and Fiorentina, respectively, when they hit the road on Thursday for the round of 16 stages.
The 2019-20 Süper Lig season champions, Istanbul-based Başakşehir, will be looking to silence Gent's Ghelamco Arena in a later kickoff, 11 p.m. CEST.
Under coach Emre Belözoğlu, the Orange-Navy blue side will be determined to return to Istanbul from Belgium with a triumphant result that will secure their place in the next round.
The return leg of the match will be played next Wednesday, March 15, at Başakşehir's Fatih Terim Stadium.
Başakşehir have submitted their matchday squad to UEFA for their upcoming tie against Gent, and one of the omissions, Caner Erkin, is set to miss out on the first leg of the encounter.
Medipol Başakşehir have been raising eyebrows with their successful campaign in this year's UEFA European Conference League.
While they managed to pick eight wins from 12 matches, they were held to three deadlocks and lost only once.
Eliminating Israel's Maccabi Netanya in the second qualifying round in the UEFA Conference League and Iceland's Breidablik in the third qualifying round, Başakşehir advanced to the group stage by overtaking the Belgian representative Antwerp in the playoff round.
They also had an automatic qualification into the round of 16 after finishing first in their group with Scotland's Hearts, Latvia's RFS and Italy's Fiorentina.
Throughout the campaign, Medipol Başakşehir have been unstoppable in front of goal, finding the back of the net a remarkable 26 times while only conceding seven goals.
On the flip side, Gent, featured in the UEFA Europa League playoffs this season, continued their journey in the UEFA European Conference League but unfortunately succumbed to a 2-0 defeat in both matches against Greek Cypriots, Omonoia.
They achieved a runner-up finish in Group F, which included Norway's Molde, Ireland's Shamrock and Sweden's Djurgarden. They were pitted against Azerbaijan's Karabakh in the last 16 playoffs.
Both teams emerged victorious on their home turf in the pairing, scoring 1-0 each.
Gent then sealed their opponent's fate with a penalty shootout and advanced to the last 16 rounds to face Medipol Başakşehir.
Sivasspor are poised to take on Serie A's Fiorentina in their 29th outing on the European stage.
Thus far, their record in the previous 28 matches has seen 10 wins, four draws and 14 losses, with the Red-White side managing to notch 33 goals but also conceding 50 in the process.
The Braves, under coach Rıza Çalımbay, will be without their three players, Mustapha Yatabare, Robin Yalçın and Caner Osmanpaşa, who have been sidelined due to injury.
Just like Başakşehir, Sivasspor will be weighing their chances to make it to the UEFA Europa Conference League quarterfinals, provided they claim an early advantage in Italy on Thursday.
