Club Brugge will welcome Bayer Leverkusen to the Jan Breydel Stadium on Wednesday night in the opening week of the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League campaign.
Venue: Jan Breydel Stadion (Brugge)
Key Statistics
Club Brugge have lost just one of their last nine competitive games (W7, D1).
They have scored at least twice in each of their last four games.
The hosts have just three victories in their last 18 outings in this competition (D6, L9).
Five of their last eight home matches in this competition have seen them concede at least three goals (W1, D2, L5).
They also have a poor European record against German clubs, winning just one of 12 matches since 2003 (D3, L8).
Bayer Leverkusen have only won their opening UCL group game once in the last six attempts (D1, L4).
The visitors hold a strong record against clubs from Belgium though, losing just once in seven games (W3, D3).
They have suffered just two defeats in their last eight away games in the UCL (W2, D4).
Head to head
Bayer Leverkusen’s only previous clash with Brugge came during the 2006/07 UEFA Cup. The game ended 1-1.
Latest performances in all competitions
Club Brugge: W-W-W-W-D
Leverkusen: L-W-L-L-L
Club Brugge
Belgian Pro League champions Club Brugge will look to begin their UEFA Champions League campaign on a positive note when they host German side Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night.
The Belgian club have enjoyed a solid start to their season. They picked up a clinical 4-0 win over Cercle Brugge in the Bruges Derby on Friday and will now turn their attention to Europe. Brugge have made the UEFA Champions League group stage in the last four seasons but have failed to advance to the knockouts each time.
Club Brugge are drawn in the same group as Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and FC Porto, and Carl Hoefkens’ men will fancy their chances of making it out of the group stage this season and a home win against a struggling Bayer Leverkusen will be the perfect start to the Champions League campaign.
Possible Club Brugge starting line-up
Simon Mignolet; Brandon Mechele, Raphael Onyedika, Abakar Sylla; Andreas Skov Olsen, Casper Nielsen, Hans Vanaken, Denis Odoi, Bjorn Meijer; Kamal Sowah, Ferran Jutgla.
Injured: Noa Lang, Taejon Buchanan, Mats Rits
Doubtful: Clinton Mata
Suspended: None
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen meanwhile, have struggled this season, sitting in the bottom half of the Bundesliga standings. They were beaten 3-2 by Freiburg in their last game and will hope for better luck in the continent.
Die Werkself opened their European campaign last season with a 2-1 comeback win over Ferencvarosi and will look to start on a positive note once again.
Gerardo Seoane’s men finished in the top four last season to qualify for the Champions League this season but are at risk of crashing out of the group stage if they do not start winning some games.
Club Brugge hold the upper hand in this fixture with the Belgian Club managing to secure come off without a loss in the last two encounters including a Europa League meeting back in 2006 and a more recent Friendly in 2011. With this, Gerardo Seoane will be all the more eager to have his boys secure all three points in Belgium against their in-form hosts.
Possible Leverkusen starting line-up
Lukas Hradecky; Edmond Tapsoba, Jonathan Tah, Piero Hincapie; Jeremie Frimpong, Robert Andrich, Exequiel Palacios, Kerem Demirbay, Callum Hudson-Odoi; Moussa Diaby, Patrik Schick.
Injured: Amine Adli, Florian Wirtz, Karim Bellarabi, Andrey Lunev
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Club Brugge 1-2 Leverkusen
