Champions League debutants Brest will endeavour to preserve their unbeaten status in the 2024-25 league phase when they face Sparta Prague at epet ARENA on Wednesday night.
While the hosts are seeking to avoid losing back-to-back home games in the space of four days, the visitors are looking to win their third successive away match in all competitions.
Match preview
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Sparta Prague are competing in the Champions League for the first time in almost two decades and have picked up a respectable four points from their opening three matches against Red Bull Salzburg, Stuttgart and Manchester City.
After beating Salzburg 3-0 on matchday one and holding Stuttgart to a 1-1 draw in Germany on matchday two, the Maroons suffered a heavy 5-0 defeat away against Man City a fortnight ago - their heaviest defeat in any competition since losing 6-1 at Liverpool in the Europa League in March 2023.
Despite that, Lars Friis's side remain in contention to secure at least at last-16 playoff spot in the 36-team UCL table, as they currently sit 21st and only three points behind the top eight having almost approached the halfway point.
Since returning to domestic action, Sparta's Czech First League title defence has suffered a huge blow as they have lost their last two league matches against Viktoria Plzen (1-0) and Banik Ostrava (3-1), losing at home to the latter last weekend to leave them third in the table and 11 points behind leaders Slavia Prague, who also have a game in hand.
The Maroons will now shift their focus back to the Champions League and with games against Atletico Madrid, Feyenoord, Inter Milan and Bayer Leverkusen on the horizon, Wednesday's clash with Brest represents, on paper, their best chance of claiming maximum points. However, they enter this fixture having lost their last six European matches against French clubs, conceding 18 goals.
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After securing their highest-ever French top-flight finish last season (third), Brest have made the most of their first-ever campaign in European competition thus far and have surprised many by accumulating seven points from a possible nine in the Champions League.
Les Pirates came out on top against Sturm Graz (2-1) and Red Bull Salzburg (4-0) in their first two matches, before holding Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen to a 1-1 draw on matchday three, with Pierre Lees-Melou cancelling out an earlier strike from Florian Wirtz.
Eric Roy's side currently sit fifth in the 36-team UCL table and with tricky tests against Barcelona and Real Madrid still to come, they will view Wednesday's encounter with Sparta Prague as a good opportunity to strengthen their hopes of reaching the last 16.
Since sharing the spoils with Leverkusen, Brest have celebrated victory and suffered defeat in Ligue 1, with a 2-1 away win against Reims followed by last weekend's 1-0 home loss to Nice, leaving them 10th in the table and five points behind the top three after 10 matches played.
A favourable-looking clash with basement club Montpellier is on the horizon, but they must first turn their attention back to the Champions League and will be looking to become only the fourth French club to go unbeaten in their opening four games in the competition after Marseille (nine), PSG (eight) and Bordeaux (six).
Team News
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Sparta Prague duo Imanol Garcia (knee) and Indrit Tuci (unspecified) are both ruled out with injuries, while Ermal Krasniqi has emerged as a doubt after picking up an unspecified problem just nine minutes after coming on as a substitute in the defeat to Banik.
Lukas Haraslin (hamstring), Veljko Birmancevic (thigh) and Angelo Preciado (knock) are also doubtful after missing last weekend's game and they will all be assessed ahead of kickoff.
Asger Sorensen, who scored last weekend, is set to continue in central defence alongside Filip Panak and Martin Vitik, while Tomas Wiesner and Matej Rynes could be tasked with providing width as wing-back as either Albion Rrahmani or Victor Olatunji leads the line.
As for Brest, Bradley Locko and Abdallah Sima - who has scored three Champions League goals this term - will both miss out with respective Achilles and hamstring injuries, while Luck Zogbe is ineligible having not been selected in the club's Champions League squad, but would have been a doubt anyway with concussion.
Romain Del Castillo managed to shake off a minor calf issue to play for 79 minutes against Nice last time out and the winger is in contention to continue on the right side of attack next to Ludovic Ajorque and either Mama Balde or Ibrahim Salah.
Lees-Melou, Mahdi Camara and Hugo Magnetti are all set to retain their places in centre-midfield, while Roy will weigh up whether to stick with Jordan Amavi or recall Massadio Haidara.
Sparta Prague possible starting lineup:
Vindahl; Vitik, Panak, Sorensen; Wiesner, Kairinen, Laci, Rynes; Pavelka, Sadilek; Olatunji
Brest possible starting lineup:
Bizot; Lala, Chardonnet, Coulibaly, Haidara; Camara, Lees-Melou, Magnetti; Del Castillo, Ajorque, Balde
We say: Sparta Prague 1-2 Brest
Securing all three points will be the target for both teams in Wednesday's contest as they bid to boost their hopes of reaching the last 16. There is little to separate these two clubs, but we are backing Brest to take advantage of Sparta Prague's defensive frailties and grind out another positive result in Europe.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
