In the second qualifying round of the Europe League Osijek hosts Luzern in Gradski Vrt. Osijek finished fourth in the league last season while Luzern finished fifth. The teams are pretty well matched up on transfermarkt with Osijek worth a bit more. Of course the level of the league is much higher in Switzerland but Luzern has had financial problems lately and had to sell some of their infuential players. Osijek on the other hand finally has some money to spare. The team that always produced quality player was always stressed for cash but with the Hungarian injection the results are starting to show. For this season they got two promising talents from Lokoimotiva - Grezda and Bockaj while the other players remained.
Luzern on the other hand had to sell Ricardo Costa (33), Cedric Itten (28), Francisco Rodriguez (25), Nicolas Haas (23), Tomislav Puljić (12) , Sally Sarr(4) and their best scorer Schneuwly (33). They got a few good names like Demhasaj, Schulz, Schwegler, Gwan Jong but certainly not the level of the players they sold.
Osijek has had a few matches in this competition but not recently. They have huge motivation to impress infront of the home crowd and I think they will do it. Luzern also has some matches in Europe League but never won away. Osijek is a team that will grow while Luzern is of an unknown quality. Osijek had a very good preparation period and also started 20 days earlier than Luzern. Osijek to take a win at home.
Pick Osijek Odds 2.06
