Thursday's Europa League and Conference League qualifying predictions and free football tips

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Kick-offs from 4pm Thursday

Kilmarnock vs Cercle Brugge
BBC Scotland & BBC iPlayer, 7.30pm Thursday

Panathinaikos vs Botev Plovdiv
7pm Thursday

Best bets

Cercle Brugge to beat Kilmarnock
1pt 5-6 general

Panathinaikos to win & over 2.5 goals vs Botev Plovdiv
1pt 3-4 Coral, Ladbrokes

Europa League and Conference League qualifying predictions

There are nine Europa League second-round qualifiers taking place on Thursday and there is British interest as Kilmarnock, following their fourth-place finish in the Scottish Premiership last season, entertain Cercle Brugge of Belgium.

Killie were dumped out at the first hurdle by Connah's Quay Nomads on their last European adventure five years ago and this looks a daunting task for Derek McInnes’s men.

Club Brugge were Conference League semi-finalists last season while Union Saint-Gilloise and Gent both made the knockout stages, showing that Belgian stock is on the rise.

Cercle Brugge finished fourth behind Club Brugge, Union Saint-Gilloise and Anderlecht in the Belgian Pro League Championship round last season and as there are likely to be some nerves in the Killie camp, they can claim a first-leg lead at a packed-out Rugby Park.

Panathinaikos will be hoping they can reach the group stage of the competition just as they did last season and they should have few concerns seizing the initiative against Bulgarian side Botev Plovdiv.

The Athens outfit were mixing it with Villarreal, Rennes and Maccabi Haifa in the group phase last term and, although propping up the section, they defeated Villarreal at home and failed to score only once, in a goalless draw at Maccabi Haifa.

That shows their ability and they can win an entertaining affair against Botev Plovdiv, who edged past Maribor 4-3 on aggregate in the previous round and have some attacking talent.

There is a long list of Conference League fixtures also scheduled for Thursday and Kilmarock’s SPL rivals St Mirren are in action away at Icelandic outfit Valur Reykjavik.

There is also Irish interest as Shelbourne head to Zurich and St Patrick’s entertain Vaduz, while Welsh outfit Caernarfon face an intimidating trip to Polish giants Legia Warsaw.

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