1. FC Union Berlin will take on Finnish side KuPS tomorrow at 18:00 in the first leg play-off for the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage.

The game is being held at the Olympic Stadium in Finland's capital Helsinki.

Review: The previous matches

1. FC Union Berlin started the Bundesliga on a positive note with a 1-1 draw at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei against Bayer Leverkusen. Taiwo Awoniyi scored after seven minutes in front of the 11,000-strong crowd in Köpenick, his first strike since making his move permanent from Liverpool. Moussa Diaby equalised and despite chances in the second half for Union, the points were shared.

Meanwhile, KuPS (Kuopion Palloseura) are six-time Finnish champions are second in the league. They won their last top-flight game 4-0 against FC KTP. Simo Valakari's side have lost only one of their last 10 league matches and sit nine points off the dominant force in Finnish football, HJK Helsinki.

The view of the coaches

"They play a very tough German style of play and are very dynamic. They solve situations in their own penalty area very well, but run at you very high in return. They are very flexible and always attack you differently. They are very dangerous and have a high quality," said Valakari.

"It's a special game. To play internationally again after 20 years is special. In the last two games against Astana, KuPS were not favorites, but they did very well. They are very compact, have a good organisation and are very solid on the pitch. They will try it with footballing means: through long balls behind the last chain and always create danger with crosses. Their style of play, being nasty, aggressive and compact, looks very familiar and a bit like Union. They will certainly make life difficult for us," said Urs Fischer.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Personnel

Urs Fischer confirmed at the pre-match press conference that Union would be without Grischa Prömel and Fabio Schneider.

Info

The match will be shown live on Sport1 in Germany.