On the back of contrasting results on the fourth matchday of the 2024-25 Champions League, Bayer Leverkusen and Red Bull Salzburg cross paths on Tuesday evening in their latest European affair.
The BayArena battle pits two managers with Liverpool connections against each other, as Xabi Alonso embraces Jurgen Klopp's former right-hand man Pep Lijnders on the touchline.
Match preview
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After pleas from Liverpool fans for Alonso to step into Klopp's shoes fell on deaf ears at the end of last season, the 2005 Champions League winner lined up in the opposing dugout at Anfield on November 5, when Arne Slot's Reds machine was too hot to handle.
The Bundesliga invincibles managed to hold out for over an hour and showed glimpses of what they are capable of in the final third, but their rearguard fell apart in the final 30 minutes, as Luis Diaz conjured up a masterful hat-trick while Cody Gakpo also got in on the act in a 4-0 Reds romping.
The Anfield annihilation marked a first UCL loss of the season for Die Werkself, who had previously amassed a respectable seven points from nine on offer in their first three games, and they occupy a respectful 13th place in the 36-team table at this juncture.
While Leverkusen succumbed to the brilliance of a hat-trick hero in their last Champions League game, they were celebrating a treble-scorer of their own on Saturday, when Patrik Schick netted three of his side's five goals in a 5-2 top-flight trouncing of Heidenheim to end their three-game winless run in all tournaments.
That enthralling victory also stretched Leverkusen's unbeaten home run in all competitions to seven matches since August's 3-2 reverse against RB Leipzig, and their 11 victories in Europe since the start of the 2023-24 season - excluding qualifiers - is the most of any team on the continent.
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Also tipped to succeed the long-serving Klopp as Liverpool head coach, albeit not anywhere near as strongly as his touchline nemesis for the week, Lijnders takes his juvenile Salzburg side to the BayArena with a Champions League spring in their step.
The Austrian Bundesliga titans - who were deposed as champions by Sturm Graz in the 2023-24 season - lost each of their first three European games of the campaign before a successful jaunt to Feyenoord earlier this month, as they ran out 3-1 victors over the Dutch giants in Rotterdam.
However, Salzburg remain outside the playoff spots in 30th place in the UCL table, and their triumph in the Netherlands has not triggered a domestic revival; they have lost their last two Austrian Bundesliga matches against Blau-Weiss Linz (2-1) and most recently LASK Linz by the same scoreline.
Lijnders's ailing side already find themselves 14 points behind reigning champions Sturm Graz - who have played two games more - in the Austrian Bundesliga table, and only once have Salzburg won successive Champions League matches, defeating Sevilla and Wolfsburg back-to-back in 2021.
Tuesday's tussle will see Leverkusen and Salzburg meet in a competitive match for the very first time, but the German champions have never lost in five previous games against Austrian sides in Europe, winning three such matches and playing out two draws.
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Team News
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Leverkusen boss Alonso is almost down to the bare bones in attack, as star striker Victor Boniface (hip), Jonas Hofmann (hip) and Amine Adli (leg) are all out injured, and Martin Terrier has been ruled out for the rest of 2024 with a broken arm.
Terrier is one of two fresh concerns from the weekend for the hosts, who also lost wing-back Jeremie Frimpong to a contact knee injury in the win over Heidenheim, complicating matters on that side further with Nordi Mukiele (hip) already missing.
Frimpong has been able to train in the lead-up to this game, but Nathan Tella should take his place for Tuesday's tie, where Aleix Garcia and the effervescent Florian Wirtz are expected to support hat-trick hero Schick in attack.
As for Salzburg, the visitors will be boosted by the return of number one goalkeeper Alexander Schlager from a European suspension, a timely fillip with Janis Blaswich currently out of contention due to a calf injury.
Also on the sidelines for Lijnders's team are Bryan Okoh (hamstring), Leandro Morgalla (hamstring), Takumu Kawamura (knee), Maurits Kjaergaard (ankle) and Fernando (hamstring), but the latter would not be displacing Karim Konate up top anyway.
The 20-year-old was the scorer of an unfortunate own goal in the weekend's loss to LASK, but he struck twice at the correct end of the field against Feyenoord and should be supported in the final third by the much-coveted Oscar Gloukh.
Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie; Tella, Xhaka, Andrich, Grimaldo; Garcia, Wirtz; Schick
Red Bull Salzburg possible starting lineup:
Schlager; Dedic, Baidoo, Piatkowski, Terzic; Diambou, Gourna-Douath, Clark; Nene, Konate, Gloukh
We say: Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 Red Bull Salzburg
Salzburg's stellar beating of a 10-man Feyenoord side was not a sign of things to come for Tuesday's visitors, who are still flattering to deceive domestically and are at risk of a rude awakening in Leverkusen.
Even with a handful of attacking talents missing through injury, Alonso's men should prove far too potent for Salzburg's young guns, and the Bundesliga champions have our vote to stroll to a comfortable win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
