Qarabag-Bayer Leverkusen is a match valid for the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 and is played Thursday at 6:45 p.m.: live TV, probable formations, predictions.
This Bayer Leverkusen doesn’t seem to set limits for itself, still in the running on three fronts: league, Europa League and German Cup. Xabi Alonso’s team is still undefeated in all three competitions, and after last weekend it mortgaged what would be its first historic Bundesliga triumph: thanks to the 2-0 win in the away match in Cologne – its sixth consecutive victory – the Aspirins flew to +10 over Bayern Munich, which again slowed down by drawing 2-2 in Freiburg. The coveted Schale, in short, has never been so close.
A team that plays a type of soccer that is spectacular but at the same time also effective: thanks to a coach with, so to speak, modern ideas, who in a short time was able to get the project of the Rossoneri club off the ground, which in the past always stopped at the most beautiful. Bayer Leverkusen has so far shown that it does not even suffer from the double commitment: now it will also have to cope with the Europa League, where last fall it was dominant in the group stage, achieving six wins out of six and qualifying directly for the round of 16.
Qarabag again
The draw again put them in front of Qarabag, which they faced already in the group and beaten in both the first leg and the return leg (5-1 and 0-1). The saying “either way, it will be a success” applies to the Azeris, as they had never in their history gone this far in a European competition.
After getting the better of Molde and Hacken in the group – which passed as runners-up with 10 points behind Bayer Leverkusen – Qarabag managed to oust top-ranked Braga in the play-off for access to the round of 16. Gurban Gurbanov’s team surprised everyone in the first leg, going on to win 4-2 in Portugal, but in the return leg they were about to squander it all and it took a goal by Akhundzade in the last minute of the second extra time (2-3) to avert the penalty lottery. Qarabag is increasingly first in its league, more than twenty points ahead of second: three wins in a row after the challenge with the Lusitanians. Gurbanov against Leverkusen will have to do without three disqualified players, Cafarquliyev, Almeida and Romao, in addition to the injured Medina.
The prediction
Bayer Leverkusen has already proven to be clearly superior to the Azeris in the group stage and should be able to mortgage qualification already in Azerbaijan. The number of total goals is likely to be between two and four.
The probable lineups of Qarabag-Bayer Leverkusen
QARABAG (4-2-3-1): Lunev; Matheus Silva, Mustafazade, Huseynov, Vesovic; Jankovic, P. Andrade; L. Andrade, Benzia, Zoubir; Juninho.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN (3-4-1-2): Hradecky; Kossonou, Tah, Hincapié; Frimpong, Xhaka, Andrich, Grimaldo; Wirtz; Schick, Adli.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 0-2
