On Thursday, starting at 17:55, Krasnodar – Leverkusen, from the sixteen European Championships, the first game, the 2018-2019 edition, will be played.
The two bands have not met in European competitions so far.
Murad Musayev’s group is one of the strongest in the field, from Russia. The “Greens” were defeated 2 times on Krasnodar Stadium, only the Zenit leader having only one “home” failure. The Russian team finished second in the Europa League group stage, with 4 wins and 2 defeats. Krasnodar possesses a great offensive force, highlighted in both European and domestic competition (the best attack in the first Russian league, 31 goals).
Leverkusen has a lot of interesting games lately. “Asprinele” defeated Bayern Munich, score 3-1, then they were eliminated from the German Cup by a team from Bundesliga 2, Heidenheim, score 1-2. The group prepared by Peter Bosz did not leave behind and “stepped” on Mainz, scoring 5-1 away. Leverkusen begun with the first chance to qualify in the best of the Europa League, but the opponent in Russia is not easy at all.
Krasnodar will try not to lose this first hand, in order to have real chances in moving from BayArena. We are counting on the fact that the Russians will score between 1 and 3 goals, for sure.
PREDICTION: Bayer Leverkusento win @ 1,97
