Overview
Coach Julio Velazquez is only 2 matches away from helping Levski Sofia end the nearly two-decade period of absence from the Champions League group stage, since his last appearance in 2006.
Levski has successively overcome Borac Banja Luka, Universitatea Craiova and Kairat to advance to this round, while maintaining an impressive streak of form lasting from the 2025-2026 season. Since the beginning of April, they have only received one defeat, which was a 0-1 home defeat to Ludogorets.
This result did not significantly affect Levski's journey to win the 27th national championship, and at the same time helped them end 16 years of waiting for titles since 2009. After losing to Ludogorets, they went through 17 consecutive matches without conceding any more defeats, although 5 matches ended in a draw.
Even if he cannot win a ticket to the Champions League, Levski is still guaranteed a place to participate in the Europa League. The team that loses in this match will participate in the Europa League group stage, a tournament that the Bulgarian representative has not returned to since 2010.
On the opposite side, Marko Nikolic's AEK also has a lot of motivation to aim for a positive result in Bulgaria. However, the Greek team is facing a disadvantage in the pace of play when they have only played one official match since winning the national championship for the 14th time.
That match took place at the Greek Super Cup last week and AEK suffered a defeat against OFI Crete. This result somewhat affected their preparation for the away match in Sofia.
This is also AEK's first defeat in an official match since the beginning of April, when they lost to Rayo Vallecano 0-3 and were eliminated from the Conference League in the quarter-finals.
AEK has secured a spot in a European tournament this season, but the bigger goal is still to return to the Champions League.
Personnel situation
Levski is having some personnel problems before the first leg. Radoslav Kirilov (knee) and Stipe Vulikic (foot) are likely to be absent, while Mustapha Sangare (muscle), Akram Bouras (muscle) and Oliver Kamdem (knee) are still uncertain about their ability to play.
Reinaldo and Armstrong Okoflex scored 3 and 2 goals respectively in the qualifiers, contributing half of Levski's goals in the previous three rounds. This duo is expected to continue to make a difference in the home team's attack.
On the AEK side, Milan Vitalis is not eligible to play because he participated in the Conference League qualifiers in the Gyor shirt before moving to the reigning Greek champions at the beginning of the month.
Luka Jovic scored the opening goal in the Super Cup match but could not help AEK avoid defeat. However, the striker who scored 17 goals last season is still the most notable threat in this team's attack under Nikolic.
Expected lineup:
Levski Sofia: Vutsov, Aldair, Dimitrov, Serafimov, Centelles, Trdin, Moubarik, Oko-Flex, Serginho, Bala, Reinaldo.
AEK Athens: Strakosha, Rota, Moukoudi, Relvas, Pilios, Marin, Kairinen, Koita, Kaloskamis, Varga, Jovic.
The match between Levski Sofia and AEK Athens takes place at 2:00 a.m. on August 19 (Vietnam time).
