Partizan vs FC Koln prediction: EUROPE: Europa Conference League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2022-10-12 16:45.
After their shock 1-0 victory in the reverse fixture in Germany last week, Partizan have the opportunity here to consolidate their spot at the summit of UEFA Conference League (UECL) Group D (W1, D2) and potentially line up knockout football in a European competition for only the third time ever, despite this being the 27th successive season in which the Belgrade club had qualified for Europe!
They come into this clash in good form, with last week’s 1-0 win over Cologne sandwiched between two domestic victories in which they scored exactly four goals. This streak is part of a wider run in which they’ve lost just one of their last 15 competitive matches (W9, D5) and even that sole defeat was via a penalty shoot-out. Despite all of that, Partizan are without a win in their last three European group stage home matches, so manager Gordan Petrić would be wise to taper any overconfidence in his players.
Last week’s loss to Partizan seemed to have a pretty detrimental impact on Cologne who followed it up with a 5-2 defeat away at the hands of Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Rhine derby. Their quest in that game wasn’t helped by Florian Kainz’s sending off late in the first half, and that was something manager Steffen Baumgart alluded to post-match when stressing that the defeat won’t “throw us off our path”.
Winning here would be the ideal remedy to their two setbacks last week, yet their draw on matchday one away to Nice actually means Cologne still have an unwanted record of not yet winning an away European game in this century (D1, L3). Baumgart’s men have also won just two of their last eight competitive away matches (D4, L2), although they did score in all of those fixtures, so we can expect a potentially entertaining encounter no matter the result.
Players to watch: Although he didn’t score last week, Partizan’s Fousseni Diabate’s three UECL goals – all of which came in the second half – makes him the second joint-highest scorer coming into the round. With domestic suspension looming, Cologne’s Kainz is sure to feature here and he’s registered three goal contributions (G2, A1) across his last three competitive matches.
Hot streak: Partizan have lost their last three European home games against German opposition.