Preview: Strasbourg vs Brondby - prediction, team news, lineups

In the opening leg of their Conference League playoff round tie, Strasbourg and Brondby will face each other for the first time on Thursday at Stade de la Meinau.

A seventh-place finish in Ligue 1 last season earned the French side a place at this stage of the competition, while Brondby are here thanks to a huge 4-3 comeback aggregate triumph over Vikingur Reykjavik in the third qualifying round.

Match preview

A strong opening domestic campaign for Liam Rosenior has Strasbourg two games away from featuring beyond the qualification stage of a European tournament for the first time since the 2005-06 season.

Early into the new campaign, their English manager has put a lot of faith in his youngsters to deliver, with Le Racing becoming the first club in the history of the top five European leagues to boast 11 starters born in 2000 or later last weekend.

Despite their age, they got the job done, failing to concede a single effort on target against newly promoted Metz, putting them third in the table after one game thanks to their 1-0 win.

In 2025, they have points in nine of their 10 Ligue 1 fixtures played at Stade de la Meinau but lost the previous one on the final matchday of last season, 3-2 versus Le Havre.

Strasbourg have not lost a European encounter on home soil since October 1995, when AC Milan beat them 1-0, winning all three of their Europa League qualifiers in Alsace in 2019 by a combined margin of 5-1.

It has been nearly 20 years since they conceded a second-half goal at Stade de la Meinau in a European match, drawing 2-2 with Red Star Belgrade in a December 2005 UEFA Cup group fixture.

With the odds seemingly stacked against them last week, Brondby pulled off one of the most epic come-from-behind victories in the qualifying phase of this tournament.

Not only were they down 3-0 following the opening leg, but they were also a man down after 18 minutes in the return engagement and yet still won 4-0, holding their opponents to just one effort on target in 90 minutes.

Frederik Birk Christensen’s men enter this upcoming fixture in good form, winning three consecutive matches across all competitions by a combined margin of 8-1.

They have won two of their last three competitive fixtures as the visitors but are winless in their two Europa Conference League contests away from home this year.

Brondby have won their previous six matches played across all competitions when leading after 45 minutes, collecting five clean sheets over that stretch.

Thursday will mark the seventh time that Drengene Fra Vestegnen face a French team in Europe, and the Danes have lost all four of those previous visits to France, while scoring only once.

Strasbourg form (all competitions):

Brondby Conference League form:

Brondby form (all competitions):

Team News

A cruciate ligament tear will likely keep Saidou Sow out of the Strasbourg fold until 2026 at the earliest, while Andrew Omabamidele is eligible to play despite missing their opening Ligue 1 affair through a yellow card suspension.

Joaquin Panichelli scored on his league debut Sunday, four minutes before the 90, while Chelsea loanee Mike Penders did not have to make a single stop to collect a clean sheet in his first competitive game at the club.

An unknown injury kept Frederik Alves out of the Brondby lineup in their second-leg contest last week, while Clement Bischoff will be suspended after his early red card in that encounter.

Nicolai Vallys and Filip Bundgaard each netted braces to turn that tie in their favour, with former Reims goalkeeper Patrick Pentz stopping the only shot that he faced to ensure they advanced.

Strasbourg possible starting lineup:

Penders; Amo-Ameyaw, Mwanga, Hogsberg, Sylla, Samuels-Smith; Paez, Nanasi, Barco; Bakwa, Panichelli

Brondby possible starting lineup:

Pentz; Klaiber, Lauritsen, Binks; Divkovic, Spierings, Nartey, Kohlert; Vallys, Ambaek, Bundgaard

We say: Strasbourg 3-0 Brondby

The speed and attacking talent that Strasbourg have at their disposal could be a handful for a Brondby side that can barely keep up against far inferior teams than the one they will face on Thursday.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.