CLUB BRUGGE and Fiorentina will cross paths for the second time in six days in the Europa Conference League when they do battle at the Jan Breydel Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Fiorentina claimed a first leg advantage in this semi-final tie by taking top honours in a 3-2 thriller last Thursday night, in a game that brought up two of our man Gabriel’s recommended tips.
That victory has also edged the Viola one step closer to reaching back-to-back Conference League finals, as they look to banish the demons of last season’s heartache against West Ham.
With one eye on this week’s return match, Fiorentina boss Vincenzo Italiano fielded a much-changed starting XI in his side's 2-1 loss at Hellas Verona in Serie A on Sunday.
As for Club Brugge, they rebounded from last week’s first leg body blow by recording a 2-1 win at Royal Antwerp.
Consequently, Nicky Hayen’s side have seized the initiative at the summit of the Belgian Pro League and are now just three wins away from reclaiming the title.
How the bookies view it: Brugge to bounce back
Club Brugge, who have won each of their last four Europa Conference League home games, are 6/4 (Bet 365) favourites to get the win they need inside 90 minutes.
Fiorentina are 9/5 (Betfred) outsiders to follow up on last week’s first leg success with another victory, while the draw has been chalked up at 23/10 (Bet 365).
Head to head: First blood to Fiorentina
Club Brugge and Fiorentina had never come up against each other before last week’s semi-final first leg in Italy.
While Brugge are the bookmakers favourites to bounce back with a win here, the Italians are still strongly fancied to qualify at 2/7 on Bet 365.
Players to watch: Thiago to torment Italians
Club Brugge striker Igor Thiago demonstrated how deadly he can be in front of goal when netting his 29th goal of the season at the Stadio Artemio Franchi last Thursday night. The Brentford-bound Brazilian is 15/8 to repeat the trick in this week’s return match.
Andrea Belotti bagged his first Europa Conference League goal of the season last week and the Italian international is as big as 14/5 (William Hill) to breach Brugge’s backline once again.
Predicted lineups
The hosts will be without Raphael Onyedika for this week’s second leg following the midfielder's red card in Florence last Thursday night.
Riccardo Sottil, who opened the scoring in spectacular fashion last Thursday, has been ruled for the rest of the campaign after breaking his collarbone.
Club Brugge: Jackers; De Cuyper, Spileers, Mechele, Sabbe; Odoi, Veltesen; Skov Olsen, Vanaken, Jutgla; Thiago
Fiorentina: Terracciano; Dodo, Martinez Quarta, Ranieri, Biraghi; Bonaventura, Arthur; Gonzalez, Beltran, Kouame; Belotti
Anything else catch the eye? Goals galore again in Belgium?
With another action-packed clash anticipated in Belgium on Wednesday evening, backing both teams to get on the scoresheet stands out at 4/5 with William Hill.
Club Brugge are likely to go for the jugular from the first whistle and they will fancy their chances of extending their eye-catching scoring streak in this season’s Conference League to 12 matches.
However, given the state of play in this semi-final tie, the Blue-Black could leave themselves vulnerable to counter-attacks from a Fiorentina side that are averaging almost 2.2 goals per-game on the continent term.
Yet, the Viola are not exactly watertight themselves, with BTTS banking in five of their last seven European assignments.
Given that Club Brugge will have to force the issue at some point, the 11/10 (Bet 365) on the hosts racking up five or more corners on Wednesday evening also looks worthy of interest at an attractive price.
This UEFA Europa League Conference match between Club Brugge and Fiorentina will be played on May 8, 2024 and kick off at 17:45. Check below for our tipsters best Club Brugge vs Fiorentina prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
