Champions League, Qualification, 2nd Round, First Leg, Wednesday, 23.07.2025 at 19:00
Two consecutive seasons without the Austrian championship? There is a lot of discontent in the Red Bull Salzburg camp. The club has big plans for the 2025/26 season, including qualifying for the Champions League.
This Wednesday evening, the team will play the first leg of the second qualifying round. Caution is advised, as the opponent is already in full swing.
My Brann Bergen RB Salzburg tip contains all the important information about the match for you. And since I’m not quite sure what to expect from RB, I’m going with the classic “both teams to score”!
Red Bull Salzburg strengthened its coaching staff a few weeks ago with Thomas Leitsch, who is well known to all of us from Bochum. After all, they don’t want to congratulate Sturm Graz on winning the championship for the third time.
Frans Krätzig from FC Bayern and Stefan Lainer from Borussia Mönchengladbach are the most prominent new additions to the squad. However, they have also lost some important personnel in Amar Dedic, Samson Baidoo, and Ignace Van de Brempt.
The fact is that the Bulls will have to find their rhythm at the start of the 2025/26 season. They have qualified for the Champions League group stage six times in a row.
It goes without saying that Salzburg want to be among the big boys again in 2025/26. It was back in 2012/13, a long time ago, that the team last failed to make it past the second qualifying round.
On Wednesday, Salzburg have to prove themselves in Brann, Norway. First of all, I can say that these two clubs have never met before. RB has played four matches against clubs from Norway.
Against Rosenborg and Lillestrom, they ended up with three wins and one defeat. But let’s take a look at their current form, as the Austrian Bundesliga has not yet started the new season.
The Austrians failed to make it to the round of 16 in the Club World Cup. A 2-1 defeat to Pachuca, a 0-0 draw with Al-Hilal and a 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid meant that their four points were not quite enough to see them through to the knockout stages.
Two interesting friendly matches were then added in July. They beat Qarabag 2-1 but lost 1-2 to Derby County. However, this defeat was a very strange one.
Salzburg completely dominated the game, recording 18 shots and 73% possession. The English side didn’t have a single corner and only shot twice on goal – they were unbeatable in terms of efficiency!
The Austrian side’s approach to the game was more than encouraging. RB already knows that if they get through the second qualifying round against Bergen, they will face FC Bruges shortly afterwards, who are anything but easy opponents.
As far as progress is concerned, the club is of course the favorite, with average odds of 1.28 to 3.40. If you want to bet directly on the winner of the first leg, we’re offering odds of 2.20 to 2.85.
If you register with Oddset to place one of these bets, you’ll also receive a great bonus that allows you to collect up to €100 on top.
Brann Bergen is certainly aware of its underdog status. The Norwegian club, which caused a sensation in 1996/97 by reaching the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, has not really been able to show its stuff on the European stage in recent years.
For the first time since 2008/09, the team is now trying to qualify for the Champions League again. The difficult road begins in round 2, so I can really only focus on the domestic competition at this point.
Since it has been underway since the end of March, the team is in full swing. Bergen is currently in third place, but has only won three of its last seven games and is hoping for a bit more consistency.
I find it interesting that they have only lost one home game. Home performances were not a problem last season either. Brann came within a hair’s breadth of reaching the group stage of the Conference League.
After a 2-0 home win against Astana, they had one foot in the preliminary round, but a 3-0 defeat away from home dashed all their dreams. I would also like to mention that in ten of their 14 league games, the team conceded goals in the first half.
So you can bet that Salzburg will score a goal before halftime. Oddset is offering odds of 1.78 for this tip.
Red Bull Salzburg wants to do better in 2025/26 than it did last time. The Bulls are naturally aiming for the Champions League, but they know that they first have to settle in with their new coach and some new arrivals and departures.
That makes it difficult for me to make a prediction here. Brann Bergen is in the middle of the season, but it has been several years since they last qualified for the Champions League. They could use their home advantage to their advantage.
I have therefore decided not to pick a favorite. Since RB did not look good defensively against Derby County last time out, my prediction is:
Both teams to score!
