Champions Valletta will be facing Qormi this afternoon at the Ta’ Qali national stadium in the first semifinal of the U*BET FA Trophy competition – the second and last major honour of the local season.

After winning the title for a second consecutive time, the citizens are now eager to make it a memorable season by winning the Trophy and clinching the double, something that eluded them last year when they lost to their arch rivals Floriana in the final.

Valletta are firm favourites to win today’s clash and reach the final. They have a psychological advantage in the sense that they have already beaten today’s opponents convincingly twice in the first phase – 3-1 in the first round and 4-1 in the second round.

For Jesmond Zerafa, Valletta coach, it will probably be his last competition as head coach at Valletta after his two successive Championship title wins. And as such, he will be requesting his players to go all out in search of a Trophy win to finish his commitments with Valletta on a high.

Zerafa is expected to have an almost full squad at his disposal for today’s match. The only players missing will be Saidou Mady who is suspended.

On the other hand, Qormi’s Stephen Azzopardi is hopeful that his side can rise to the occasion and give the favourites a strong challenge.

The yellow blacks were disappointed this season at having failed to live up to expectations, missing out on a Top Six berth.

Now they are sensing their chance to finish the season on a top note hoping that their foreign strikers, Bello Osagie and Jorge Pereira, will be at their very best to give the citizens some worrying moments.

One might expect Qormi to adopt defensive tactics in an effort to keep the citizens at bay, trying to operate on fast breaks which could surprise the champions.

But Valletta will certainly be prepared for such tactics and they will be expected to go all out in search of an early goal which will give them the necessary confidence to get through this last but one obstacle.