Gent vs Bordeaux 24/08/18

24 August 2018

After suffering two straight defeats in the opening stage of the Ligue 1, Bordeaux will travel to Belgium where they are going to face off against Gent at the Ghelamco Arena in the Europa League playoff round. Although the Buffalos started the Jupiler Pro League on the wrong foot, losing 3-2 to Standard Liege on the road, they have managed to raise their game and achieve four successive wins, including two impressive ones over the Polish side Jagellonia in the last round of the Europa League qualifying process. The other two triumphs that came against Eupen on the road and Waasland-Beveren at home saw Gent scoring seven goals, which may be particularly important against the Girondins, who failed to keep a clean sheet in the last five matches. Despite a slow start in the national championship and a poor form, Bordeaux managed to overcome the problems in Europe and eliminate the Ukrainian side Mariupol 5-2 on aggregate after securing two comfortable wins over Ventspils. It will be the first time in history these two sides meet each other at the European stage, with Gent beating the French team 4-3 in a friendly match three years ago.

Dylan Bronn will be the only player to miss the encounter inthe home squad, while Youssouf Sabaly won’t appear for the visitors after picking up a knee injury.