FC Union Berlin vs. Bayer Leverkusen 8/14/21 Bundesliga Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

FC Union Berlin is hosting Bayer Leverkusen at An der Alten Forsterei in round 1 of the German Bundesliga. Union has had a fantastic last season, they got really close to the Europa League, and their current form is fantastic. Leverkusen has ended last season in 6^th place, they have qualified for the Europa League, but they haven’t been playing well lately.

Union Berlin hasn’t lost any of their last 8 games while winning 5 of their last 6 games. Union Berlin has had an excellent preseason, and they were successful in the DFB Pokal last week. After finishing last season in 7^th place, which was a nice surprise, Union has qualified for the Conference League, and they have big expectations from this season. Offensively, Union has been outstanding lately with 14 scored goals, while their defense has been equally good with only 4 conceded goals and 3 clean sheets. Union has been active on the market this offseason, and after they were able to keep all of their best players, Union has signed a few good players that will increase their depth and give them more bench quality. I think Union will have a solid season once again but playing in 2 competitions can be tough.

Leverkusen has started last season well, but they sunk to 6^th place until the end season, and they barely qualified for the Europa League. In their DFB Pokal match last week, Leverkusen was solid, but they have been playing against the lower-division team. Leverkusen has lost Bailey to Aston Villa, a player that was probably the best in their team, they lost Jedvaj, while the Bender brothers went to a lower division team. Kossounaou is the biggest signing for Leverkusen for 25 million Euros, while Bakker arrived from PSG for 7.7 million Euros. Fosu-Mensah, Wirtz, Tapsoba, Alario, Bakker, and Bellarabi are all injured, and they will miss this game. I think this will be a rebuilding season for Leverkusen, especially because they are playing in the Europa League, and they don’t have the depth to compete in both competitions, but I still think Leverkusen will be competing for the Europa League once again this season.

Union Berlin is in better form, but the trends are on Leverkusen’s side. I think this could be a rough game with quite a few goals, but I think Union Berlin gets the win at home.