Feyenoord vs Bayer Leverkusen Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 UEFA Champions League | League Phase
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This is an intriguing encounter with Feyenoord continuing in their new post-Arne Slot era looking to make a mark on the UEFA Champions League up against the dominant force of German football from last season, Bayer Leverkusen.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Thursday 19th September, 2024 - UK – 5:45pm / US ET – 12:45pm / US PT – 9:45am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – TNT Sports / US – CBS Sports
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – TNT Sports or Discovery+ / US – Paramount+ or Amazon Prime or UniMas or TUDN or Fubo or DirecTV Stream or ViX
FEYENOORD PREVIEW: THE WORKERS OF ROTTERDAM
Last season, Feyenoord finished as runners’ up in the Eredivisie table behind Peter Bosz’ dominant PSV Eindhoven side. The Rotterdam-based club have, as mentioned, had to reshuffle and rebuild over the summer following the departure of Arne Slot to Liverpool with him being replaced by former Sparta Prague boss Brian Priske.
The home team come into this one on the back of a difficult and inconsistent start to the campaign with back-to-back draws either side of the September international break, firstly in the derby against Sparta Rotterdam and then in a 2-2 draw away at Groningen at the weekend as they sit in mid-table.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN PREVIEW: MAKING THE STEP UP
Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen very nearly enjoyed the perfect season last season as they won the domestic double with the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal. Their only defeat across all competitions came in the UEFA Europa League final against Atalanta as they were hammered by three goals to nil at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Leverkusen have begun the defence of their German title with two victories and a defeat with that defeat coming against RB Leipzig a couple of weeks ago when they were 2-0 up. The task for the German champions is to ensure they can show themselves to be of the same quality now at a higher level.
FEYENOORD TEAM NEWS: FULLY FIT FEYENOORD
Brian Priske is still getting to grips with the job in the Dutch second city but he is blessed with a fully fit and available squad for this opening UEFA Champions League clash.
After surprisingly choosing to stay at the club in the summer, Feyenoord’s attack remains built around Mexico international striker Santiago Gimenez.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Wellenreuther; Lotomba, Beelen, Hancko, Smal; Zechiel, Timber; Nieuwkoop, Nadje, Paixao; Gimenez
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE:
BAYER LEVERKUSEN TEAM NEWS: TEMPTED TO ROTATE
Bayer Leverkusen were guilty of turning in some poor performances last season as a result of Xabi Alonso being very keen to constantly rotate to ensure freshness within his squad.
Whilst that therefore makes it difficult to predict an eleven, there does appear to be a clearer ‘best’ side for the Germans this time around with the attack built around Florian Wirtz.
PREDICTED XI (3-4-2-1): Kovar; Tapsoba, Tah, Piero Hincapie; Tella, Andrich, Xhaka, Alex Grimaldo; Terrier, Wirtz; Boniface
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE: Exequiel Palacios (Injured)
KEY STATS
- The only previous meetings between these two teams in UEFA competition was in the 1987/88 UEFA Cup third round. The first leg in Rotterdam finished 2-2, Leverkusen won 1-0 in the second leg to progress to the next round.
- Feyenoord have won their last four UEFA competition matches against German teams – and are unbeaten in the last six (W5 D1).
- Feyenoord have lost only one of their last 12 UEFA competition matches at home against German teams (W7 D4).
- Feyenoord have lost their last three UEFA Champions League matches.
- Feyenoord have not drawn a UEFA Champions League match (including qualifying) since October 2002 when they drew 0-0 at home against Dynamo Kyiv in the group stage.
- Feyenoord are unbeaten in their last 17 competitive matches at home (W13 D4).
- Leverkusen are unbeaten in their previous six UEFA competition matches against Dutch teams (W3 D3) - with three draws from three matches away from home.
- Leverkusen’s only defeat in 13 matches last season in their UEFA Europa League campaign (W9 D3) was in the final against Atalanta.
- Leverkusen have won only one of their last seven UEFA Champions League matches (D2 L4).
- Leverkusen have won their Matchday 1 fixture in only one of their last seven UEFA Champions league campaigns (D1 L5).
- Leverkusen have lost all their previous six fixtures when they have been away from home on Matchday 1 of the UEFA Champions League.
FEYENOORD VS BAYER LEVERKUSEN PREDICTION
Feyenoord remain a proactive and attacking team but there is perhaps an ineffectiveness in attack and an over reliance on their aforementioned Mexican forward Santi Gimenez. Bayer Leverkusen have put in some unconvincing performances so far this season but did win well against Hoffenheim at the weekend and a Leverkusen victory to kick off their UEFA Champions League campaign would seem a good bet for this one.
FEYENOORD VS BAYER LEVERKUSEN TIP: BAYER LEVERKUSEN TO WIN
