Guļa: Riga will be stronger with home crowd support in return leg against KÍ Klaksvík

Latvian football champions Riga FC played to a 0:0 draw away against Faroese club KÍ Klaksvík on Thursday in the first leg of the UEFA Conference League qualifying play-off round. The return match will be played next Thursday in Riga, with the aggregate winner advancing to the tournament's group stage while the loser's European campaign ends.

After the match, head coach Adrián Guľa said the team's satisfaction with the result and performance would become clearer after the home leg, where Riga will need to win, though he acknowledged the first match was played away from home. He described the game as difficult, citing the specific pitch and environment in the Faroe Islands, to which he felt the team adapted well, delivering a strong performance for roughly 75-80% of the match.

Guľa noted that the home side was particularly effective at set pieces, a threat Riga largely managed to neutralize, while his own team created two good scoring chances that he said should have been converted.

The coach expressed confidence that the tie remains open and said he believes the team will be stronger with fan support at home, promising maximum effort to advance. He stressed that the club always plays to win and that the situation is now straightforward — a win in the return leg will be enough to progress.

Path to the play-off

Riga began its European campaign in Champions League qualifying, losing 3:4 to Armenian champions Ararat-Armenia in the first round. In the Conference League path, the Latvian side then beat North Macedonia's Vardar 8:4 before defeating Hungary's Győri ETO 2:1 in the third round. KÍ Klaksvík's road to the play-off included a 4:2 win over Luxembourg's Atert, a 0:1 loss to Lithuania's Žalgiris, and a heavy 0:6 defeat to Poland's Lech Poznań in Europa League qualifying. Other Latvian clubs — RFS, Auda and Liepāja — were also eliminated earlier in Conference League qualifying.