Salzburg – Club Brugge

Salzburg faces Club Brugge in a second leg from the 1/16-finals of Europa League. Here are our thoughts about this game on Thursday night.

The Belgian side won the first leg in Brugge with 2-1, which gives them an advantage. The game started badly for Brugge, because Zlatko Junuzovic opened the score for Salzburg. But everything changed in the second half, when Stefano Denswil and Wesley turned the game around for Club Brugge. Now the Belgians are in a better position to progress, but Salzburg still have their chances. This away goal scored by Junuzovic could be very important in the end.

Let’s see how these two teams perform in their domestic leagues.

In the Austrian Bundesliga Salzburg are without competition. They are leaders in the standings, having 14 points advantage in front of the 2nd LASK. There’s no doubt that Salzburg will be champions of Austria once again. Right now this team just don’t have any real competition in the domestic league. That’s why for Salzburg it’s so important to impress in Europe. They were great in Europa League’s group stage, but now they must replicate this form in the knockout phase as well.

In the Belgian First Division A Club Brugge are currently 2nd in the regular season, trailing on 8 points behind the leader Genk. Surely right now Brugge are not favourites to win the title, but there are still some matches to be played. They have some chances. In their last game in the First Division A Club Brugge enjoyed a very important 3-1 win over the current leader Genk.

Club Brugge have advantage over Salzburg before this second 1/16-final leg from Europa League, but nothing is over just yet. The Austrians are good enough to erase this result from the first match. Let’s see if they can do it.