Bayer Leverkusen vs Salzburg Prediction & Betting Tips (26 November)

Good beginnings and a checkered continuity. This is the assessment to be made of Bayer halfway through the league phase of the Champions League. He started with successes against Feyenoord 0-4 and AC Milan 1-0 before conceding a draw in France against Brest 1-1 and being defeated by Liverpool 4-0, still on the road. These results make the club from across the Rhine 13th in the ranking. He is thus virtually qualified for the play-offs but is 2 points behind 8th, the last direct qualifier for the round of 16. In the championship, the German team, reigning champion, is struggling to confirm its status. Leverkusen is only 4th in the standings after having won 4 wins in 10 days. Xabi Alonso's team returned to the field on Saturday at home against Heidenheim with the ambition of winning.

It remained in a draw in Bochum 1-1 before the international break. Accustomed to playing in the Champions League for several years and even eighth finalist in 2022, Salzburg is not at its best in this campaign in the new format. After the first 4 days of the league phase, the Bullen are only 30th in the standings, 2 points from 24th place offering a last qualifying place for the play-offs to reach the round of 16. They took their first points in the competition on the last day at Feyenoord 1-3 after losing their first 3 matches including a scathing 0-4 score at home against Brest. The title escaped Salzburg last season in the Austrian championship and this will once again be the case in the current year if the formation of the Red Bull galaxy does not pull itself together. Defeated by BW Linz 2-0 before the break and opposed to LASK Linz on Saturday, the boss of Austrian football is only in 4th place in the ranking. 

For Leverkusen, defenders Mukiele (loaned by PSG) and Belocian (ex-Rennes) are uncertain. Another Frenchman, in this case winger Adli (no goals), is mentioned about an injury. Victim of a broken fibula, his team will miss him again for this meeting and the next ones while summer recruit Terrier (1 goal in the Bundesliga) will once again join the group after recovering from a physical problem. It remains to be seen whether starting defender Tapsoba, who suffered an injury during the break with Burkina Faso, will be fit. The high-quality German offensive player Wirtz is thriving this season on the European scene with 3 goals on the clock. As for Boniface, the club's top scorer in the league with 6 goals, he has only found the fault once on the continental scene. Frimpong is influential on his side although he has not yet scored but the Dutch international was able to make himself decisive, like his 3 assists at the start of the competition. Salzburg travels to Leverkusen without the young Gadou, E.

Baidoo and Diakité who were not registered in the Champions League. The injured Brazilian striker Fernando is also not on the list of players available to play in the Champions League. Right-back Morgalla returned from injury before the break but defender Okoh and midfielders Kjaergaard and Kawamura remain unavailable. Salzburg scores little in the Champions League. Its top scorer Konaté, with 8 goals in all competitions, scored twice in the competition. He even saw the hat-trick escape him on the last day against Feyenoord by missing a penalty.