Lille (Fra) vs Slavia Prague (Cze) prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Qualification betting tips on match 2024-08-19 19:00.
[p]Lille are yet to taste defeat after three games in all competitions this season (W2, D1), but their 2-0 victory over Reims at the weekend was marred by a serious head injury to Angel Gomes, with the Englishman subsequently taken to hospital following an aerial collision. The Mastiffs showed their mental strength again this term by recovering from that setback, scoring in both periods of stoppage time to make a winning start to their Ligue 1 campaign. [/p]
[p]New boss Bruno Génésio will be looking for his men to replicate Saturday’s spirit in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League (UCL) qualifying play-off tie against Slavia Prague on Tuesday. He has good reason to be confident after his side overcame Fenerbahçe in the previous round in a nail-biting tie, while the fact that the French outfit have won all of their last four meetings with Czech clubs should mean that Lille fancy their chances, even though they failed to keep a clean sheet in any of those matches. [/p]
[p]Two of those wins were against Slavia, but JindĹ™ich Trpišovský’s men arrive in France in good form themselves, unbeaten in seven matches in the new campaign (W6, D1). That run includes defeating Royale Union Saint-Gilloise to progress to this stage of UCL qualifying – the furthest that the Red and Whites have gone in this competition since 2020/21. [/p]
[p]The year after that European adventure, Slavia beat Nice home and away en route to the quarter-finals of the Europa League! Adding to the belief in the away camp will be Slavia’s excellent recent record on the road in continental competition, having won three of their last four such matches (L1), with the only defeat in that run coming against AC Milan. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: The last time that Jonathan David scored in three consecutive Lille games was in March, but the Canadian will achieve that feat again if he finds the net on Tuesday – the Mastiffs have avoided defeat in the last 18 matches in which he’s hit the target (W13, D5). Lukáš Provod has already got back into his groove for Slavia, with three assists in their last four matches.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Slavia haven’t picked up more than one first-half yellow card in any of their last ten games. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Alex Bowmer[/i][/p]