Karlsruhe – Bayer Leverkusen: Preview & Prediction
While the ball does not roll in the Bundesliga, the German Cup is the main attraction of the start of the 2017/2018 season in the country. It has its start on Friday, August 11, with three games. The most interesting of them presents a test for the renewed Bayer Leverkusen. He will face Kalsruhe, starting at 15:45 (Brasília time), at the Wildparkstadion in Karlsruhe. In the tournament, the definition is made in a single match.
Although he played for two years in the Bundesliga in his glory days, the reality of Karlsruhe is hard. In the 2016/2017 season, the team ranked eighteenth (last) place in the Second Division. He had only 25 points (five wins, ten draws and 19 losses) with 27 goals scored and 56 conceded in 34 rounds.
Thus, he was demoted to the Third Division. That way, their chance to win the spotlight by challenging first-team teams is precisely in the German Cup. To fulfill purpose, it has an advantage. While top-division rivals are still in the preseason, Karlsruhe has already entered a competitive pace.
He played four games in Bundesliga 3. However, this advantage ends up being relativized since the results were not satisfactory. With four points (one win, one draw and two losses), he occupies a modest eleventh position.
The 2016/2017 season of Bayer Leverkusen also showed that the team is far from its glory days. Although he has never reached the Bundesliga title, Leverkusen’s team often managed to position themselves in the elite group, ensuring a place in European tournaments, especially the Champions League.
He did not even come close. He finished 12th in the standings after only 41 points (11 wins, 8 draws and 15 losses). That opened a crisis in the club, which dismissed coach Roger Schmidt in the second half of the season and did not give much time to his replacement, Tayfun Korkut showed service. He was dismissed less than three months after being hired.
Heiko Herrlich took command in the 2017/2018 season and did not have a start from the most entertaining. In seven pre-season friendlies, the club won only one. He beat the minuscule Speldorf 6-0. It was just the first test, a kind of game-training against a semi-amateur team.
In the other games, he tied three times (Celta, Spain, 3 to 3, Antalyaspor of Turkey, 1 to 1, and Bonner of Germany, 2 to 2) and lost three (Lazio, Italy, 3 to 1, Sandhausen, Germany, 3-2, and Wurzburger Kickers, 3-0).
The failures should be relativized, since there was a constant relay of the cast so that Herrlich could know better the players that have at disposal. In addition, bruising problems also affected the preparation. Leverkusen has four players in the medical department. They are in treatment of injury the defender Tin Jedvaj and the Aráguiz, Sven Bender and Benjamin Henrichs socks.
History of the bouts between Karlsruhe and Bayer Leverkusen
The tie was the most frequent result in the few times Karlsruhe and Leverkusen crossed paths. There were two in four games. In the two other meetings, each team won one. The encounters took place in the seasons 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 when Karlsruhe had a brief passage through the Bundesliga.
Karlsruhe – Bayer Leverkusen: Betting Tips
Leverkusen win – Odds: 1.45
Over 2,5 goals – Odds: 1.60
