Preview: Brest vs. Sturm Graz

Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Champions League clash between Brest and Sturm Graz, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Champions League debutants Brest welcome Sturm Graz to the Stade du Roudourou for their first fixture of the 2024-25 competition on Thursday night.

This contest represents the 11th meeting between a French team and an Austrian team in the European Cup/Champions League and all 10 previous encounters have been won by the home side, with French teams winning by an aggregate score of 16-1.

Match preview
© Imago

Brest are competing in European competition for the first time in their 121-year history after finishing a memorable 2023-24 Ligue 1 campaign in third place, winning 17 of their 34 matches and collecting an impressive 61 points to secure their highest-ever French top-flight finish.

Eric Roy was the mastermind behind the club’s success in his first season at the helm, but the 56-year-old has since seen his side suffer three defeats in their opening four league matches this term to Marseille, Lens and Paris Saint-Germain.

The Pirates were put to the sword 3-1 away against reigning champions PSG last weekend. Despite taking the lead just before the half-hour mark, courtesy of a penalty from Romain Del Castillo, PSG fought back to claim maximum points thanks to goals from Ousmane Dembele (2) and Fabian Ruiz.

Languishing in 14th place with just three points on the board was not how Brest intended to start the campaign, and Roy is now tasked with building up a positive atmosphere within his first-team camp as they prepare for a historic moment in the club’s history – their first-ever European match at home to Sturm Graz.

Brest will become the 12th different French team to play in the Champions League and will be the first French club to play their first-ever match in Europe since Nantes back in 1965 when they lost 2-0 to Partizan Belgrade.

Sturm Graz, meanwhile, are gearing up for their first Champions League appearance since competing in the 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01 group stages, failing to progress to the knockout rounds on each occasion.

Die Schwoazn have tried and failed to qualify for the Champions League via the playoffs in previous years, but the Austrian Bundesliga champions – who won their first top-flight title for 13 years last season – have benefitted this term from UEFA’s decision to expand the competition to 36 teams, as they have qualified automatically.

Since losing 1-0 to Rapid Vienna on the opening weekend of the new Austrian Bundesliga season, Sturm Graz have won each of their last five domestic games in all competitions, although Christian Ilzer’s side have not been in competitive action since a 4-2 win over WSG Tirol on August 31.

Sturm Graz, who were eliminated in the last 16 of the Europe Conference League last season, have the lowest win ratio (27.5%) of all six Austrian clubs who have played at least 50 games in European competition – they have won just five of their last 26 matches across the Conference League and Europa League.

Die Schwoazn have also lost their opening match in each their previous three Champions League campaigns by an aggregate score of 9-0, so they must be on top of their game if they wish to come away with a positive result against Brest on Thursday.

Brest form (all competitions):

Sturm Graz form (all competitions):

Team News
© Reuters

Brest will be without defensive duo Bradley Locko and Achraf Dari as they continue to recover from respective Achilles and ankle injuries, while midfielder Pierre Lees-Melou remains sidelined with a leg fracture.

Summer signing Massadio Haidara was handed his debut at left-back last weekend and he will hope to fend off competition from Jordan Amavi to retain his starting spot in defence alongside Julien Le Cardinal, Brendan Chardonnet and Kenny Lala.

Mahdi Camara has made the net ripple in both of Brest’s opening two home matches this term and is set to continue in centre-midfield next to Edimilson Fernandes and Hugo Magnetti, while Del Castillo could be joined in a three-man frontline by Ludovic Ajorque and Abdallah Sima.

As for Sturm Graz, centre-back Alexandar Borkovic remains sidelined with an ACL injury, while Manprit Sarkaria has not been included in the club’s Champions League squad and faces an uncertain future after failing to secure a move away during the summer transfer window.

London-born striker Mika Biereth – formerly of Arsenal and Fulham – has scored four goals in seven games so far this term and is expected to start up front alongside either Seedy Jatta or William Boving.

Georgia international Otar Kiteishvili is set to pull the strings in midfield next to Jon Gorenc Stankovic and Tomi Horvat, while Emanuel Aiwu could be partnered by Gregory Wuthrich at centre-back, with Dimitri Lavalee moving over to left-back.

Brest possible starting lineup:
Bizot; Lala, Le Cardinal, Chardonnet, Haidara; Magnetti, Fernandes, Camara; Del Castillo, Ajorque, Sima

Sturm Graz possible starting lineup:
Scherpen; Gazibegovic, Aiwu, Wuthrich, Lavalee; Horvat, Stankovic, Kiteishvili; Zvonarek; Boving, Biereth

We say: Brest 2-1 Sturm Graz
Taking into account the fact that Sturm Graz have not played a competitive match for over two weeks and will be lacking match sharpness, it is difficult to back the visitors claiming a positive result against a Brest outfit who will be as motivated as ever to mark their Champions League debut with a victory in front of their own fans.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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