Preview: Club Brugge vs Red Bull Salzburg - prediction, team news, lineups

Following a hard-fought win on the road, Club Brugge return to the Jan Breydel Stadium on Tuesday, aiming to finish the job against Red Bull Salzburg in their Champions League third-round qualifier.

The Belgian giants scraped a 1-0 triumph in last week's opening tie, putting them 90 minutes away from a playoff with either Rangers or Viktoria Plzen.

Match preview

Familiar faces in the Champions League proper during the 2020s, Club Brugge have seldom had to go through qualifying for Europe's premier tournament in the 21st century, but finishing second behind Union SG in the 2024-25 Jupiler Pro League saw them miss out on direct entry to the league phase.

However, Nicky Hayen's troops are already 25% of the way there, having edged out Salzburg in their opening European tie of the season thanks to Romeo Vermant's 75th-minute winner, the perfect response to a recent domestic setback.

Blauw-Zwart had suffered their first competitive loss of 2025-26 a few days before slaying Salzburg, going down 2-1 to Mechelen in the Belgian top flight, but Hayen's charges have otherwise been flawless since the season commenced.

Indeed, Club Brugge have four wins under their belt from a possible five - including a revenge victory over Union SG in the Belgian Super Cup - and most recently a 2-0 success against city rivals Cercle Brugge.

Long-serving skipper Hans Vanaken and Christos Tzolis struck the goals that settled the Bruges derby in Blauw-Zwart's favour, and after previously going five games without a clean sheet, Club Brugge now have shut-outs in each of their last two.

Still priding themselves on nurturing the stars of tomorrow, Red Bull Salzburg are no longer the dominant force of Austrian football, conceding the last two Bundesliga titles to Sturm Graz after formerly winning 10 in a row.

The Pep Lijnders experiment last season quickly went pear-shaped for Salzburg, who replaced the former Liverpool assistant with Thomas Letsch in December, and the 56-year-old took his side to within two points of reclaiming the title last term.

A second-placed finish nevertheless offered Salzburg a potential route to the 2025-26 UCL league phase, which began with a 5-2 aggregate win over Brann in the second qualifying round, but the odds are now stacked against Letsch's troops.

Last week's first-leg loss marked a third straight game without a win for the Austrian titans, although they snapped that streak in emphatic fashion at the weekend, obliterating Grazer AK 5-0 in top-flight action.

The visitors could therefore have hardly done more to get the wind back in their sails ahead of Tuesday's return fixture, but without a brilliant Belgian comeback, they will go without Champions League group stage/league phase football for the first time since 2018-19.

Club Brugge Champions League form:

Club Brugge form (all competitions):

Red Bull Salzburg Champions League form:

Red Bull Salzburg form (all competitions):

Team News

Club Brugge boss Hayen will have almost all of his men available to him barring attacking duo Gustaf Nilsson (Achilles) and Michal Skoras (knock), but 20-year-old right-back Kyriani Sabbe has recovered from a blow of his own.

Skoras and Nilsson's absences are not exactly debilitating thanks to the feats of Vermant and Tzolis in the final third, while the veteran Vanaken pulls the strings in the number 10 role.

Still going strong at 37, former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet is expected to act as the last line of defence for the Belgian hosts, but Joel Ordonez may not be involved amid links with Al-Hilal; Club Brugge have officially said that the defender is nursing a hamstring problem.

In contrast, Red Bull Salzburg are not so fortunate on the injury front and could be missing up to nine players on Tuesday, including their most experienced - 33-year-old striker Karim Onisiwo.

Fellow centre-forward Karim Konate is also on the long road to recovery from an ACL tear, while Moussa Yeo (knee), Justin Omoregie (Achilles), Valentin Sulzbacher (thigh), Takumu Kawamura (knee), John Mellberg (knee), Anrie Chase (adductor) and Christian Zawieschitzky (calf) are missing too.

Scorer of a brace off the bench at the weekend, former Belgium youth international Yorbe Vertessen is sure to spearhead the attack, while the highly-rated Dorgeles Nene operates out wide.

Club Brugge possible starting lineup:

Mignolet; Sabbe, Mechele, Spileers, Meijer; Reis, Onyedika; Vetlesen, Vanaken, Tzolis; Vermant

Red Bull Salzburg possible starting lineup:

Schlager; Lainer, Gadou, Rasmussen, Terzic; Nene, Bidstrup, Diabate, Kjaergaard; Ratkov, Vertessen

We say: Club Brugge 2-1 Red Bull Salzburg (Club Brugge win 3-1 on aggregate)

If the weekend's result is anything to go by, Salzburg have reignited their scoring touch at the perfect time, but a gung-ho approach will leave gaps for Club Brugge to exploit.

As has often been the case in Champions League group stages gone by, inexperience may cost Letsch's men, as Club Brugge get the job done in front of their own fans and demote Salzburg to Europa League football.

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