Bayer Leverkusen - FC Augsburg

Both teams were active under the week in Champions League and Euro League so no one has an advantage here. Although Leverkusen played two days earlier and maybe had the time to recover and become fresh while Augsburg had the game against Partizan Belgrad on Thursday what allowed them not much time to recover and also to train because they main focus was to get all players ready for this encounter.

It was never so close for Leverkusen to get something in Barcelona. They took the lead in the opening half but failed to extend with some good attempts above all Chicarito missed the 2-0 and maybe the winner. In the end they had some problems with freshness and power what allowed Barca with two good actions to win the game. It was nothing special was Barca played but Bayer was not able to use the big opportunity there. Nevertheless are back to normal business today and with Augsburg they face a team who has a lot of trouble this Season. According to Leverkufen's form form the last games it is a must that they win against such opponents. They can not allow to drop more Points against smaller opponents like in the past to Darmstadt 0-1. All of them know that they have to take this match very serious and should not allow to much in defensive. The offensive is always good for some actions what speak for their creating power. If Coach Schmidt rotates a bit it should be not the problem at all what we have seen in Bremen where they showed a really good match with some changes. They have a lot of good players in offensive with Bellarabi, Mehmedi, Calhanoglu, Brandt, Kampl, Kießling and Chicarito. 

We had so many surprises in Bundesliga, teams with less budget played an excellent Season and got and European Spot in the end. If Alemannia Aachen, Eintracht Frankfurt, FSV Mainz 05 and SC Freiburg all were qualified and the next Season was one of the most difficult one because all these small teams are not able to handle this with their small squad. The international matches cost a lot of energy additional and they miss this power in domestic league and also have not the head free for such games. All are focused on these international games and forget the real important things their daily and main work in the league. Of course Augsburg is not weaker as last Season but they had even an incredible run and this is very hard to repeat anyway. They have to work harder for their Points now and all the teams are going to take them serious compared to last Season. Also some injury problems of some key or out of form players make it not much easier. Nevertheless the work is excellent from Weinzierl but overall they made to many mistakes in their defensive work or offensive play. Their performances are not all bad but they are to harmless in front of the goal as all statistical numbers showed. Maybe they need some calming influence of a central midfield player who can give the team more stability and keep the ball in their rows. Some of these mates can be Baier or maybe Trochowski but both have to do a lot with itself. The form is not there right now and therefore they can not help the team.

After an EL game it is always very hard to recover and the rest was less compared to the opponent. Of course Leverkusen has to travel to Barcelona and played a hard game there but they have two days more to prepare for this encounter. This can be a huge advantage against a small team who does not know this intensive stress. Additional they have to travel to Leverkusen for this encounter what is additional stress. If all these things are considered it can be only one winner here, the much better players are on Leverkusen’s side, the form as well and of course the freshness.

PICK: Bayer Leverkusen AHC -1,25 @ 1,90 (3 Units / Flat Stake)