Premiership

LARNE AND LINFIELD IN CONFERENCE LEAGUE ACTION

22 Jul 2021
football
Linfield and Larne are in European action tonight in the Second Qualifying Round of the new UEFA Conference League.
 
Both sides are at home in this evening's first leg ties, with Larne hosting Danish side AGF Aarhus (kick-off 7:30pm) while Linfield welcome Bosnian outfit Borac Banja Luka at Windsor Park, kick-off 7:45pm.
 
Larne go into the game on the back of a 2-0 aggregate defeat of Welsh side Bala Town in the last round, a couple of games which marked the East Antrim sides debut on the continental stage.
 
Aarhus finished fourth in the Danish Superliga last season and qualified for the Conference League courtesy of a play-off victory over AaB Aalborg. They kicked off the new campaign at the weekend with a 1-1 draw at home to Brondby, with Icelandic international Jón Dagur Þorsteinsson finding the net.
 
Linfield transferred across to the Conference League after making their Champions League exit to Zalgiris Vilnius last week, although David Healy will have his panel boosted by the availability of loan signings Billy Chadwick and Ahmed Salam.
 
Tonight's opposition followed a similar path, losing narrowly to FR Cluj in the Champions League despite winning their second leg tie.
 
Playing in the Bosnian Premier League, they too kicked off their domestic campaign at the weekend with a draw away to Željezničar.