Two giants of European football are set to battle for promotion to the Champions League group stages, which should guarantee us an exciting affair at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

Spartak Moscow produced quite a coup by achieving a second-place finish in Russian Premier League, leaving the likes of CSKA, Dinamo, Anzhi, Rubin and Lokomotiv trailing in their wake.

In spite of the huge success boss Valery Karpin was sacked at the end of last season, with former Valencia coach Unai Emery arriving to replace him.

The club have since significantly reinforced the squad with players like Romulo, Kim Kallstrom and Juan Insaurralde, while full-back Marcos Rojo was the only notable player to leave.

As a result, Spartak enjoyed a bright start to the league campaign, winning four of their first five matches, but the 5-0 defeat to Zenit is something that the players will need some time to forget.

The hosts now enter the Fenerbahce clash looking to create an advantage before the return leg and having won both home games this season, the Red and Whites are 1.95 (19/20) with BetVictor to win this game.

New signing Kim Kallstrom misses out through injury, just like Kiril Kombarov, Vladimir Obuhov, Soslan Gatagov, Sergei Parshivlyuk and Sergei Bryzgalov.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Dikan – Makeev, Suchy, Pareja, D. Kombarov – Romulo, Rafael, Bilyaletdinov – McGeady, Emenike, Welliton.

Having been thrown out of the Champions League last season, Fenerbahce aim to make it to the group stages this term, but there are no doubts they face a difficult job in the play-offs.

Just like their next opponents, the Turkish giants have heavily reinforced the squad in the summer, with Dirk Kuyt, Mehmet Topal, Egemen Korkmaz and Milos Krasic all arriving to Sukru Saracoglu.

Nevertheless, Aykut Kocaman’s side have experienced some problems at the start of the season, losing the Super Cup game to Galatasaray before sharing spoils with Elazigspor in Turkish Super Lig.

The good result in Moscow could be just the confidence boost they need to kick-start their season, so you should know Fener are 4.20 (16/5) with Bodog to triumph in Moscow.

Apart from first choice keeper Volkan Demirel, who is sidelined through injury, boss Aykut Kocaman will have fully fit squad to choose from.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Mert – Gonul, Korkmaz, Irtegun, Hasan Ali – Topal, Cristian – Kuyt, Alex, Stoch – Sow.