Young Boys vs Slovan Bratislava

Stadion Wankdorf is the venue, as Young Boys and Slovan Bratislava go head-to-head in the return leg of their finely poised scoreless Champions League qualifying tie.

Young Boys recovered from a 2-1 half-time deficit to eke out a 4-3 away win over Luzern in their Swiss Super League curtain-raiser last time out. As a result, the reigning Swiss titleholders are now unbeaten in six competitive matches on the bounce (W5, D1), a sequence that witnessed them score an average of 2.83 goals per game. Interestingly, a goalless first-leg draw in Slovakia was Young Boys’ second stalemate in their last 14 European fixtures (W7, L5), marking their first scoreless affair in European football since the 2016/17 Europa League group stage draw against Astana. David Wagner’s men have put together six consecutive home victories in all competitions since succumbing to a 2-0 loss to Ajax in the 2020/21 Europa League last-16, averaging 3.00 goals per game.

In the meantime, the visitors have endured mixed fortunes across their three Champions League qualifiers this term (W1, D1, L1), with two of those fixtures seeing the deadlock broken within 30 minutes of play. The ‘Belasi’ have been pretty impressive away from home this calendar year, losing just two of their 11 competitive trips since the turn of 2021 (W7, D2, L2). They can also draw inspiration from netting 2+ goals in seven of their last ten travels in all competitions. Unfortunately, they have failed to pick up a win in seven consecutive away European fixtures, walkovers included (D1, L6), since beating Dundalk 3-1 in the 2019/20 Europa League second-round qualifier. Moreover, three of Slovan’s four European trips to Switzerland have brought defeats (D1), including a 5-0 thumping to Young Boys in their only previous meeting on Swiss soil.