Leverkusen – Union Saint-Gilloise

The rivals will swap goals in Leverkusen

Union Saint-Gillois only returned to the European football map last season after decades of stagnation in Belgium's minor divisions. Transiting through to second place in the national championship, the team found themselves in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. In the group stage, the Belgian club finished first in the group with Union Berlin and Braga, and in the 1/8 finals of the tournament, they beat the aforementioned team from the German capital in a two-match duel. Bayer started their thorny European Cup journey in the Champions League. The group stage brought the Pharmacists disappointment in the form of third place behind Porto and Brugge. In the Europa League play-offs, the Germans were almost eliminated in the 1/16 finals, but after losing the home game to Monaco, they managed to win the away game and snatched a trip to the next round in a penalty shoot-out. Ferencvaros were beaten effortlessly by Bayer, 4-0 on aggregate. Before the encounter between the rivals in Leverkusen, bookmakers obviously opted to favour the home side, offering odds of 1.62 on their victory. Bayer have been throwing themselves "from the mud to the ranks" and back again this season. The Leverkusen club started the season with results at the level of Bundesliga outsiders and were even in the relegation zone. Then the Pharmacists' form improved and was generally positive, but a short-lived losing streak prevents the team now being ranked higher than sixth. The German side will go into the first quarter-final game with a seven-match winning streak under their belt. Including Eintracht and Bayern were beaten in that period. Union St-Gillois lacked the pace in the final stages of qualification to qualify for the Champions League, but the Europa League side have been at full strength. Often, their performance on the European stage has overshadowed their national championship, but there they continue to battle for the title with Genk and Antwerp. The Belgians, like their opponents, are in good form. After a 3-0 home defeat of Union Berlin, Union St-Gillois have picked up seven points from a possible nine in three league rounds. The Belgians are a classy team, and they will certainly put up a good fight in Germany, exchanging goals with their arch-rivals.