Feyenoord vs Bayer Leverkusen

De Kuip is the venue as Feyenoord and Bayer Leverkusen go head-to-head in a potentially high-scoring Champions League opening-day fixture.

Feyenoord’s life after highly-rated manager Arne Slot, who took charge of Liverpool in the summer, always looked destined for a troubled start. Unfortunately, new boss Brian Priske failed to put fans’ fears at ease, with the Rotterdam outfit held to three draws in their first four Eredivisie games under his watch (W1). Despite extending Feyenoord’s unbeaten league streak to a mind-blowing 24 matches (W17, D7), Priske returns to the competition, where he has never tasted victory before (D2, L4). However, there’s a silver lining. ‘De Stadionclub’ have gone from strength to strength in home European matches in recent years, suffering just one defeat across their last 18 continental outings at the famous De Kuip (W14, D3). Such a formidable record suggests a winning start to their second successive Champions League campaign could be on the cards.

On the other hand, Bayer Leverkusen came agonizingly close to achieving continental glory last term, only to be denied by Atalanta in the Europa League final in thumping fashion. La Dea’s 3-0 win in Dublin knocked Xabi Alonso’s side down from a European record 52-game unbeaten run (W43, D9). After becoming the first team in Bundesliga history to win the title without losing a single match, ‘Die Werkself’ have already slumped to one defeat this season as RB Leipzig overhauled a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 at the BayArena. Leverkusen quickly bounced back from that shock, thrashing TSG Hoffenheim 4-1 at the weekend to extend their phenomenal unbeaten run away from home to 29 matches (W24, D5). On top of that, they’ve only lost once across their last ten continental travels (W7, D2).