HNK Rijeka vs Shelbourne Predictions

• Rijeka are unbeaten in their last five competitive home games.
• Shelbourne have won just one of their four European qualifiers.
• Rijeka have conceded just one goal in their last five home games.

Europa League the new target for Rijeka and Shels

Ireland’s Shelbourne head to Croatia to face Rijeka in a Europa League qualifier on Wednesday after both sides fell short in their bid for Champions League football.

Rijeka were edged out by Bulgarian champions Ludogorets, while the Shels lost both legs to Qarabag as they slipped to a 4-0 aggregate defeat.

Shelbourne are generally tough to break down on the road and in Ireland’s top tier they have just two defeats in 13 trips, although they have also only won four of those games.

The Irish outfit will probably attempt to keep this game as tight as possible in the first leg on the road, to give them the best possible chance of making home advantage count in the return fixture. That could lead to a fairly low scoring game but Rijeka are generally strong at home and a home win to nil looks the best option for our main bet.

Rijeka are unbeaten in their last five at home in a run stretching back into last season. The Croatian champions have won four of those games, and have conceded just one goal in the process.

Shelbourne should be prioritising defence over attack and they are unlikely to alter that approach even if they do concede, given their home advantage in the second leg. When Shelbourne lose, they generally fail to score and they’ve drawn blanks in seven of their last eight losses across all competitions.

A 2-0 win for Rijeka is the correct score prediction as they have scored exactly twice in three of their last five at home, and haven’t scored more than two goals in any game since March – a run stretching 16 matches.