The qualifying stage of this season’s Champions League has reached the play-offs phase and features the 1st leg clash between Austrian side, RB Salzburg, and their Danish visitors, Brondby, as the two teams face off at the Red Bull Arena on Tuesday night.
Salzburg bring an impressive seven-match winning streak into this 1st leg play-off tie which includes domestic wins against Sturm Graz 3-1, Ried 7-1, Austria Vienna 1-0 and a 1-0 win away at Admira, along with an Austrian Cup victory over Hertha.
Bestandene Generalprobe: Morgen werden die Karten auf den Tisch gelegt. 💥▶⤵— FC Red Bull Salzburg (@RedBullSalzburg) August 16, 2021
Bestandene Generalprobe: Morgen werden die Karten auf den Tisch gelegt. 💥▶⤵
The hosts are therefore expected to be in confident mood as they prepare for the visit of Brondby, while the bigger picture shows that Salzburg have suffered just the one defeat out of their last 17 matches.
That loss came in the shape of a 3-1 defeat at home to Monaco but this was in a friendly, while Salzburg are no strangers to competing on the Champions League stage.
Although they’ve managed to win just one of their last six Champions League ties at home, the opposition have been of a high calibre and the hosts should accordingly be too strong for Brondby here.
Onto Brondby and Tuesday night’s visitors by contrast head into this 1st leg play-off tie on the back of some ordinary results in recent times as they’ve failed to win any of their last seven matches overall in all competitions.
In competitive football, Brondby have drawn three and lost two of their last five matches which have all been on the domestic front in the Danish Superliga, picking up points in draws with AGF, Viborg and Vejle along with back-to-back defeats against Copenhagen and Nordsjaelland.
Brondby also enter this season’s Champions League at the play-offs stage after claiming the Danish top flight league title at the end of last term, narrowly pipping runners-up, Midtjylland, to the top spot.
Brondby possess a far more limited pedigree at Champions League level as the visitors have played just 12 ties overall and have managed to win just three of their previous six ties on their travels.
Previous experience at this level can prove to be invaluable and Salzburg certainly look to hold the edge over Brondby in this regard as the hosts look to secure a healthy 1st leg lead on Tuesday night.