Hoffenheim take on the visitors Bayer Leverkusen in the round 3 match of German Bundesliga. The match will be played on Saturday, September 14th at PreZero Arena (Sinsheim).
Hoffenheim are quite ambitious. Despite their relatively short history, they’ve already experienced a peak, playing in the Champions League under the leadership of the young Julian Nagelsmann. Afterward, they struggled to find a coach of similar caliber until Pellegrino Matarazzo arrived in Sinsheim. While Pellegrino hasn’t matched all the accomplishments of his talented predecessor, he did manage to stabilize the team after joining mid-season two years ago and secured a solid seventh-place finish in the Bundesliga last season. This position guaranteed direct qualification to the Europa League group stage, where they will debut next week. The club has made several signings to strengthen the squad for this campaign, including Adam Hlozek, Nicolas Prass, Filip Stojilkovic, and others, though they did lose last season's standout performer, Maximilian Beier. The start of the new season hasn't been smooth either: they only advanced past Würzburger Kickers in the DFB-Pokal after a penalty shootout following a 2-2 draw, they narrowly beat Holstein Kiel at home with an 87th-minute goal, and lost to Eintracht in Frankfurt.
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Bayer’s impressive run comes to an end. The "Aspirins" will likely look back at the 2023/2024 season as their best ever. They suffered just one defeat, to Atalanta in the Europa League, but dominated domestically. Bayer, a club with a limited history of trophies, secured a historic double, including their first-ever Bundesliga title. Following the "Meisterschale" (championship plate), the DFB-Pokal also made its way to Leverkusen. The club offloaded some players, such as Adam Hlozek and Sardar Azmoun, and brought in key reinforcements like Aleix Garcia, Terje, and Mukiele, while retaining key players like Jonathan Tah, Florian Wirtz, and, most importantly, manager Xabi Alonso. They started the new season with wins, though not without difficulty. They only defeated Stuttgart in the Supercup after a penalty shootout, secured a dramatic 3-2 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach with a Wirtz brace in the 90+11th minute, and edged past Carl Zeiss Jena 1-0 in the DFB-Pokal. It was no surprise that their streak eventually ended, but losing 2-3 at home to RB Leipzig was still disappointing.
In the last 8 encounters, Hoffenheim has won just once, while Bayer has 5 victories, including wins in all of the last 3 matches. Xabi Alonso’s side is a clear favorite, even on the road. However, given both teams' scoring potential, a bet on "total over 3.5 goals" looks promising.
Prediction for the match: Over 3.5 scored goals.
