Solid EL opener for the Werkself?
In the last Europa League season, the German teams could not convince. Bayer Leverkusen also surprisingly failed to reach the last 32. The Rhinelanders therefore have their sights set on the new edition of the second most important European club competition.
The Bundesliga team will kick off on Thursday evening at home against an old acquaintance Peter Stöger, a former Cologne and Dortmund coach, will be on the bench for the visitors from Budapest, who of course knows the Werkself from their many years together in Germany’s first division. However, this does not change the fact that Leverkusen are clear favourites against Ferencvaros according to the odds.
One of the interesting things to see will be whether the Hungarians are still mourning the missed opportunity on the European stage with regard to the Champions League group stage. In the play-offs for the top flight, the “Fradi” twice lost out to the Young Boys. On Tuesday evening, the Bernese got off to a spectacular start in the CL preliminary round with a 2-1 victory over Manchester United.
However, because cross-comparisons rarely provide valid data, the widely held prediction between Leverkusen and Ferencvaros is that the hosts will rightly be given clear advantages.
Germany Leverkusen – Statistics & current form
Bayer Leverkusen started the 2020/21 Europa League group stage with a true football festival. In front of an empty crowd at the time, the Werkself swept away French representatives OGC Nice 6-2 to lay the foundations for a successful preliminary round. In the knockout phase, however, the Bundesliga team could not live up to the high expectations and was knocked out of the competition in the sixteenth final against Young Boys from Bern.
In the meantime, the former YB coach Gerardo Seoane is in charge at Leverkusen. The Swiss-born coach can look back on a pretty good start to the season. It was not until the weekend that Leverkusen suffered their first defeat at home against Borussia Dortmund.
After collecting seven points, however, the performance against BVB was absolutely satisfactory Accordingly, we would attest the Werkself a good form, which additionally favours the tip on a commanding home victory before the match Leverkusen against Ferencvaros.
Will Leverkusen build on their home performances from the previous season?
Another argument that must be mentioned is the home strength on the international stage. In the aforementioned group phase of the previous season, the Rhinelanders not only celebrated three wins in three matches, but also scored at least four goals in all matches and always won by at least three goals difference. In total, they scored 14:3 goals in the BayArena.
We therefore recommend checking the odds on a handicap triumph for the qualitatively much stronger home side on Thursday evening between Leverkusen and Ferencvaros. Against the enormous offensive power, which is also reflected in twelve goals scored in four Bundesliga matches, the Fradi will probably have problems. With the exception of the long-term injured Edmond Tapsoba, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Julian Baumgartlinger, all players are ready for action.
Predicted Leverkusen line-up:
Lukas Hradecky; Jeremie Frimpong, Piero Hincapié, Jonathan Tah, Daley Sinkgraven; Exequiel Palacios, Robert Andrich; Florian Wirtz, Moussa Diaby, Amine Adli; Lucas Alario
Last matches played by Leverkusen:
Hungary Ferencvaros – Statistics & current form
65 minutes Ferencvaros were allowed to play in overtime in the UEFA Champions League play-off first leg at home against Young Boys from Bern. However, instead of gaining a good starting position for the second leg, the Hungarians even lost 2:3.
Nevertheless, a week later in the second match, all chances were there to reach the group stage of the top division, as they had been the year before. However, after a 2-1 half-time lead, coach Peter Stöger’s team weakened itself this time in the form of a sending-off and thus also lost the second leg 3-2.
Budapest are not yet defensively stable
Thus, the “Fradi” will have to make do with the Europa League, but they can’t complain about a lack of ambitious and well-known opponents even one level below them With Betis Sevilla, Celtic Glasgow and Bayer Leverkusen, the Green-Whites are in a real group of death. The reigning Hungarian champions are relatively unlikely to progress, at least if you take a close look at the relevant odds before the first group match between Leverkusen and Ferencvaros.
Nevertheless, the form seems to fit. In the domestic league, they have recently won three matches in a row. However, Stöger’s team was not completely convincing. Only in one of the four league games did the “Fradi” remain without conceding a goal – at the weekend in the dress rehearsal of the Budapest derby at Honved.
Generally speaking, 14 goals conceded in ten matches in the current season is not a particularly good figure, especially considering that the majority of the opponents were not even close to the class of the upcoming opponents. In view of this, we are sceptical that a prediction on the underdog will pay off between Leverkusen and Ferencvaros
Predicted line-up of Ferencvaros:
Dénes Dibusz; Eldar Civic, Miha Blazic, Samy Mmaee, Endre Botka; Somalia, Bálint Vécsei; Tokmac Chol Nguen, Oleksandr Zubkov, Kristoffer Zachariassen; Ryan Mmaee
Last matches played by Ferencvaros:
Leverkusen – Ferencvaros Direct comparison / H2H-balance
For the first time the teams face each other in the European Cup. For Leverkusen it is the third match against a Hungarian team altogether. The first two encounters against Honved were victorious almost 30 years ago; they have also not yet conceded a goal. The Fradi’s record reads far less positive, with six victories from 18 matches against German representatives.
United Kingdom Leverkusen – Ferencvaros Hungary Tipp
Only two German teams are represented in the 2021/22 Europa League group stage. However, this is not because a Bundesliga representative has already failed to qualify, but because of the new introduction of the Conference League. Union Berlin will fly the black-red-gold flag there from Thursday.
In the Europa League, the first matchday begins with the match between Leverkusen and Ferencvaros, among others. The betting odds are clearly in favour of the Rhinelanders, who on the one hand have more individual quality and on the other hand had good experiences with home games in the EL group stage last year. In 2020/21, they won three games by 14:3 goals.
This is one of the reasons why we choose the pick between Leverkusen and Ferencvaros for the handicap victory of the Seoane eleven Thanks to their enormous attacking power, the hosts will cut the Hungarians in their half a few times and score goals as time goes on. A win with at least a two-goal difference is therefore absolutely within the realms of possibility
Alternatively, it is conceivable to place a bet on four or more goals being scored in the course of the match, as the visitors also have quality in attack and are good for a goal. A 3:1 or 4:1 is a realistic result in our eyes for this first group match on Thursday evening.
