Twente vs Salzburg Prediction: Pep talk can take Austrians through on Tuesday

A 2-1 victory in Austria last week has put Red Bull Salzburg in charge of their Champions League third qualifying round tie with FC Twente, but the Dutch side’s late goal in that first leg will fuel the belief that they can turn things around in Enschede on Tuesday (18:00).

Read on for my Twente vs Salzburg prediction and all the latest team news ahead of this crunch clash at De Grolsch Veste.

Football Odds

Team News

Both teams were in action on the weekend, with Twente kicking off their Eredivisie campaign with a 2-1 win at Nijmegen on Saturday.

Head coach Joseph Oosting made five changes to the starting XI that lined up in Salzburg four days prior, bringing in Max Bruns, Bas Kuipers, Michel Vlap, Sam Lammers and Sayfallah Ltaief for Mees Hilgers, Anass Salah-Eddine, Carel Eiting, Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Mitchell van Bergen.

Hilgers should return in the centre of defence after serving a domestic suspension, and there is likely to be another alteration in the backline after right-back Youri Regeer was forced off in the 33rd minute of the victory over Nijmegen through injury.

Last season’s top scorer Van Wolfswinkel will expect to return up top but Lammers’ first goal for the club on Saturday, which opened the scoring at the Gofferstadion, has put him in the frame for a starting spot at the expense of the veteran Dutchman.

Vlap scored as a substitute in Salzburg and will hope that strike has earned him a starting berth on Tuesday.

Salzburg played BW Linz on the same day, thrashing their Austrian Bundesliga opponents 5-1 at the Red Bull Arena.

Head coach Pep Lijnders made six changes for that game, handing starts to Kamil Piatkowski, John Mellberg, Mamady Diambou, Nicolas Capaldo, Adam Daghim and Moussa Kounfolo Yeo at the expense of Hendry Blank, Aleksa Terzic, Mads Bidstrup, Lucas Gourna-Douath, Maurits Kjaergaard and Dorgeles Nene.

Lijnders is expected to revert to the starting XI that served him so well in the first leg, meaning a return for their two-goal hero in that game, Kjaergaard, who was restricted to a substituting outing on the weekend.

Last season’s top scorer Karim Konate remains injured, however.

Twente vs Salzburg Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Twente vs Salzburg page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

Twente are 11/8 to get the victory they need to at least force extra-time on Tuesday, giving them an implied win probability of 42.1% in regulation time, while Salzburg are 8/5, or a 38.5% chance, to record back-to-back wins against the Dutch side.

A draw would be enough to send Salzburg to the next round, and that outcome can be backed at 13/5.

Both teams to score (90 mins) is 8/15 and over 3.5 total goals (90 mins) is 6/4.

Double Chance & Both Teams To Score – Draw or Salzburg & Yes (90 mins) @ 5/4

Kjaergaard put Salzburg in front four minutes before half-time last week and doubled the Austrian side’s lead in the 85th minute. The hosts were made to work for their win at the Red Bull Arena but always looked like triumphing, though Vlap’s late consolation did take some of the gloss off the scoreline.

Nevertheless, Salzburg’s now know their job ahead of the second leg – avoid defeat and they will make it through to the revamped Champions League group stage, which will become a single 36-team league stage.

Salzburg have been scoring goals for fun since Lijnders left Liverpool to take up the head coach post at the club; after netting 18 across five pre-season friendlies, the last of which saw them thrash EFL Championship outfit Sheffield Wednesday 4-0, Die Roten Bullen kicked their OFC Cup campaign off with a 6-0 win at Dornbirn, and their Bundesliga season with a 3-2 victory at Grazer AK.

After striking twice against Twente in the first leg, Salzburg added to their early-season tally by hitting five past BW Linz on Saturday, and they will be in the mood for another one or two at least in the Netherlands this week.

Salzburg are yet to keep a clean sheet this month, however, conceding twice to Grazer AK and one apiece to Twente and BW Linz.

Twente will be expecting to score in front of their fans in this second leg and should be buoyed by their opponents’ defensive record.

However, I think Salzburg possess too much quality in their ranks to let their first-leg lead slip, and they should be able to avoid defeat in a highly entertaining contest at De Grolsch Veste.

Oscar Gloukh Anytime Scorer (90 mins) @ 13/5

Twente players make up the three shortest-priced selections in the anytime scorer market, so as I’m backing Salzburg to score and avoid defeat, I think it makes sense to identify one of their stars who could strike in Enschede.

Striker Petar Ratkov is lowest at 21/10 but is yet to get off the mark this term, which leads me to two in-form individuals, Gloukh (13/5) and Kjaergaard (7/2). The latter bagged a brace in the first leg and was afforded some rest on Saturday, only joining the action for the final half hour or so, while Gloukh started back-to-back games.

The 20-year-old was magnificent, firing a hat-trick inside 64 minutes to put his side 3-1 up, and he should be in a confident mood heading to the Netherlands.

Gloukh struck nine times for Salzburg last season, including twice in continental competition, and will have been emboldened by his goal at the recent Paris 2024 Olympics for Israel.

He looks a good price to find the net anytime against Twente.

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