Young Boys vs RB Leipzig prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2023-09-18 16:45.
Defending Swiss Super League champions Young Boys extended their unbeaten competitive run this season to nine matches on Friday (W6, D3), as they prepared for their opening UEFA Champions League (UCL) group stage match in perfect fashion. That routine 1-0 win vs Xamax also made it five clean sheets in a row, solid defensive form that they’ll hope to continue here against a free scoring RB Leipzig side.
Two of those recent unbeaten outings saw the Swiss side get the better of Maccabi Haifa during UCL qualifying, winning 3-0 on aggregate thanks to a strong second leg showing on home soil. Unsurprisingly then, Stadion Wankdorf has been a fortress for Raphaël Wicky’s side as they haven’t lost any of their last 19 outings here (W16, D3), though the last defeat did come in European competition in a 1-0 reverse against Anderlecht.
Leipzig returned from the international break to resume their great recent form with a dominant 3-0 home victory against Augsburg, a result that made it three wins in succession for the Bundesliga outfit. Their recent positive results have been largely aided by their freescoring nature, netting 16 goals across their five competitive outings so far this campaign, form which boss Marco Rose will hope helps them open their UCL campaign with a positive result.
The German outfit have reached the knockout stages of this competition three times in their previous five participations, and they’ll know that a fast start here is crucial with last season’s treble winners Manchester City also in Group G. The visitors’ form on the road in this competition remains fairly poor however, losing seven of their last 11 such outings (W4), with four of those worryingly seeing them concede three or more goals!
Players to watch: Cedric Itten has four goals in nine outings for Young Boys this season, with three coming on home soil, including one in UCL qualifying. Leipzig’s on-loan star Xavi Simons has seven goal contributions (G3, A4) this season, but he scored just once across nine European matches last season.
Hot stat: Leipzig’s last ten UCL matches have averaged a whopping 3.9 goals.