RB Leipzig vs Club Brugge

RB Leipzig and Club Brugge go head-to-head at the Red Bull Arena in a Champions League fixture that could decide the home side’s fate in Europe.

Leipzig suffered an embarrassing 6-3 defeat to Manchester City in their Group A curtain-raiser and are now facing the prospect of falling out of contention for the top-two finish with another failure here. However, ‘Die Roten Bullen’ can draw confidence from an imperious home form in the Champions League group stage matches, going unbeaten in the last five in a row (W4, D1). Indeed, Leipzig won all three group-phase home games in the 2020/21 Champions League season, beating the likes of Manchester United and PSG in the process. By extension, the Germans have netted 2+ goals in six of their last seven home outings in the competition, barring a 2-0 loss to Liverpool in last season’s Round of 16. Jesse Marsch’s men have won two of their three Bundesliga home games this season (L1), prevailing by 4+ goals ‘to nil’ on both occasions.

Meanwhile, Club Brugge’s spirited Matchday 1 display saw them hold PSG to a heroic 1-1 home draw, which is a part of their four-match unbeaten streak in all competitions (W2, D2). However, that run is in jeopardy here, as they’ve gone winless in ten European meetings with German opposition (D3, L7) since beating Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in a Champions League qualifier back in August 2003. Topically, the ‘Blauw-Zwart’ have failed to get on the scoresheet in each of their last five Champions League clashes against Bundesliga sides. Additionally, they have only won twice across their previous 13 away fixtures in the Champions League (D4, L7), failing to keep a clean sheet in the last six in a row.