Sheriff Tirasspol defeated partizan Belgrade on aggregate to reach the main knockout of the Europa Conference League. The Moldovans haven't been playing at home due to uncertainties in the nation and they have a huge task getting past OGC Nice to the next round of the Europa Conference League. I fancy a bet on OGC Nice to win this game for the following reasons;
[1] OGC Nice is one of the strongest teams in this competition; they didn't have to play the round of 32 because they had already qualified directly from the group stages. Sheriff Tiraspol failed to make the playoffs of the Champions League and they dropped to the Europa where they were beaten by many teams. This also resulted in Sheriff Tiraspol dropping to the Europa Conference League and they don't look like getting past a super OGC Nice team. Sheriff Tiraspol was not as brilliant as they were the last two seasons when they participated in the UEFA Champions League. This comes at a very bad time for the hosts when OGC Nice have one of their best teams in the last decade with players like Nicolas Pepe joining the team. OGC Nice had one of the most favorable draws and I expect them to get the win here ahead of the second leg.
[2] Sheriff Tiraspol have been struggling a bit over the last few games and this is not one of their best sides heading into this fixture. They have won only one of their last three games and the last time they were at home in the Europa Conference League, they lost by one goal to nil against Partizan Belgrade. OGC Nice is a top seven team in the French Ligue One; a competition that is tougher than the Moldovan National League. Since 11th of January 2023, OGC Nice has not lost a game and they have beaten so many strong teams during this period with notable victories against Lille, Marseille, Lens and Monaco. I expect the visitors to continue their fine form and defeat Sheriff Tiraspol in the first leg.
Nice would want to seal their qualification quickly and I reckon they would have a good lead after the first leg against Sheriff Tirasspol.
