Cercle Brugge KSV vs Basaksehir prediction: EUROPE: Conference League – League phase betting tips on match 2024-12-18 20:00.
[p]With back-to-back wins, Cercle Brugge have secured their progression to the knockout stages of the UEFA Conference League. Courtesy of a pair of convincing victories in their home matches, they’re now in a position to almost guarantee themselves a place in the Round of 16 with a top-eight finish if they can defeat İstanbul Başakşehir on the final matchday. [/p]
[p]It’s a stellar performance from a side that are not only making their maiden appearance in the main draw of any UEFA competition, but are continuing to succeed in this competition despite languishing in the relegation zone of the Belgian Pro League. Domestic struggles prompted a change of managers earlier this month, with Austrian Ferdinand Feldhofer – who has experience taking Wolfsberger beyond the group stage of the 2020/21 Europa League – taking the reins. [/p]
[p]İstanbul Başakşehir are also chasing progression to the knockout stages, sitting at the bottom of the top-24 heading into matchday six. Having ended a four-match winless start to this competition by beating Heidenheim 3-1 last time out (D2, L2), the Turkish side can guarantee their place in the knockout play-off should they win again here.[/p]
[p]Başakşehir could be forgiven for shelving any continental ambitions and instead prioritising their domestic competitions after a 3-1 weekend loss at Fenerbahçe on Sunday saw them fall further away from the all-important top-four of the Süper Lig. It also appears remotely likely that they’ll be able to pick up a much-needed victory on the road, having lost five of their six away trips across all competitions (D1) since the start of October.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Cercle’s Kévin Denkey shows no signs of slowing down after his equaliser against Gent was his third competitive scoring appearance of December alone (G4). That’s nothing in comparison with Krzysztof Piątek, who at the weekend scored for a fifth straight match in either the Süper Lig or Conference League (G6)![/p]
[p]Hot stat: Seven of Başakşehir’s last nine matches produced over 2.5 total goals. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Aaron Murphy[/i][/p]