Brest vs Sturm Graz predictions: Les Pirates to win on European debut
- Sturm Graz have only won three of their last 18 European away games
- Brest won their last home game by a 4-0 scoreline
- Recommended bet: Brest to win
After a phenomenal third-place finish in last season’s Ligue 1 campaign, Brest make their European bow on Thursday night as they face a Sturm Graz side that have not found themselves at this stage of the competition in over two decades.
The French hosts have had a rough start to the new campaign but are priced as odds-on favourites against their Austrian opponents.
Team news
Brest have no fresh injury concerns ahead of this tie, but they remain without midfield trio Romain Faivre, Pierre Lees-Melou, and Bradley Locko, the latter of whom will not be back in action until February.
Midfielder Manprit Sarkaria is a doubt for the visitors after picking up a knock, while defender Alexander Borkovic is ruled out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
The stats
Sturm Graz have only won three of their last 18 European away games.
Brest won their last home game by a 4-0 scoreline.
This will be Brest’s first-ever European game.
Sturm Graz have not competed in the Champions League group stage since the 2000-01 season.
Sturm Graz are without a clean sheet in four matches.
Prediction
Brest’s future in the top flight of French football was only confirmed on the final day of the 2020-21 season, but just three years later they find themselves riding the wave of an extraordinary rise.
Their third-place finish last term secured European football for the first time in their history, and they may be able to bounce back from a difficult start to the new campaign when they make their Champions League debut on Thursday.
Sturm Graz are European regulars, but they have not reached the Champions League group stage since the 2000-01 season and they finished third in their Europa League group last term.
The Austrian side have won just three of their last 18 European away fixtures, and those victories came against the likes of Slovan Bratislava, Rakow Częstochowa, and Mura.
Brest may have struggled in the opening stages of this season, but they did thrash Saint-Etienne 4-0 in their last home game and they only lost twice in 18 games at Stade du Roudourou last season.
With Sturm Graz losing seven of their 12 European matches last season, back Les Pirates to open their European adventure with a three-point haul on Thursday.
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