On Wednesday, starting with 19:30, the Leverkusen – Cologne match will be played, within the 32nd round of the Bundesliga. In the tour, Cologne won 2-0 at home, through the goals scored by Cordoba and Bornauw. It was the second consecutive success achieved by “Tapi”, who lost only one duel in the last 5 with Leverkusen. On the field of “Aspirins”, Cologne has won only 2 of the previous 15 visits!
Leverkusen failed to win the trip from Gelsenkirchen to Schalke, giving the hosts the opportunity to get a precious point. Peter Bosz’s students wasted 15 gate situations and missed the chance to get closer to Leipzig, but also to get away from Monchengladbach. Leverkusen has 57 points in the standings, with one over “Manji”, and a good run in the last 3 stages would bring a new qualification in the Champions League groups.
Cologne did not win in the 7-round Bundesliga, the last success being on March 6, 2-1 at Paderborn. Thus, “Tapii” remain on the 12th place in the season ranking, with 35 points, 7 away from Dusseldorf, which is on a dam position. In the 2019/2020 away matches, the group coached by Markus Gisdol won 4 times, but received 33 goals, only Mainz (35), Union Berlin and Dusseldorf (both 34) conceded more. The last time Cologne didn’t score in Leverkusen was in 2010, when Toni Kroos and Arturo Vidal formed a formidable pair in the middle of the “Aspirin” field.
In the last 6 direct matches on “BayArena”, no less than 26 goals were scored. There were spectacular duels, and the dispute in the tour, score 2-0 for Cologne, was an exception. The hosts are very motivated to check the access to the Champions League and we expect a spectacular match.
– Leverkusen claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them – possession being 59.8%;
– “Aspirins” benefited from 4 own goals, most of this season;
– Koln has an average of 14.4 fouls per match in the Bundesliga, 2nd place after Union Berlin;
– “Tapii” wins on average 21.8 air duels / match, only Union Berlin has more;
Leverkusen: Hradecky – Tah, S. Bender, Tapsoba – Amiri, Aranguiz, Demirbay, Sinkgraven – Havertz (c), Volland, Diaby
Absent: Alario, Bellarabi
Coach: Peter Bosz
Koln: Horn – Ehizibue, Bornauw, Czichos, Katterbach – Skhiri, Hector (c) – Drexler, Uth, Kainz – Cordoba
Absent: Hauptmann, Risse
Coach: Markus Gisdol
PREDICTION: Bayer Leverkusen to win @ 1,52
