The second leg of the 2024/25 Conference League Round of 16 between Rapid (Austria) and Borac (Bosnia and Herzegovina) will be held on March 13 at the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium in Vienna. The first match ended in a 1-1 draw. Rapid vs. Borac: match prediction and statistics.
Rapid
Robert Klauss's team managed a draw against Borac away in the first leg, extending their unbeaten run to six out of seven matches in the current Conference League (4 wins, 2 draws). Furthermore, Rapid has scored in every match in this tournament. To advance to the next round, the club needs to win in regular time by any score. Notably, the Austrians have not reached the quarter-finals of any European competition since the 1986/87 season.
- The team has not lost in regular time in 8 of their last 9 home matches in the Conference League (5 wins, 3 draws).
- The club has kept a clean sheet in 6 of their last 8 home matches in this European competition.
- The Austrians have not scored more than one goal in regular time in 7 of their last 8 home games in the Conference League.
Predicted lineup for Rapid (4-3-3)
Niklas Hedl – Bendeguz Bolla, Jonas Auer, Nenad Cvetkovic, Serge-Philipp Ryo-Yao – Lukas Grgic, Mamadou Sangare, Andrija Radulovic – Dion Beljo, Nikolaus Wurmbrand, Louis Schaub.
Forward Guido Burgstaller is injured.
Borac
Mladen Žižović's team extended their unbeaten streak in the Conference League to four matches thanks to the first leg result (1 win, 3 draws). Moreover, Borac failed to keep a clean sheet for the first time during this run. To advance to the next round, the team needs to win in 90 minutes, and if the match ends in a draw, extra time will be played. Notably, the Bosnians have never participated in the quarter-finals of any European competition.
- The club has not won in regular time in 6 of their last 7 away matches in the Conference League (1 draw, 5 losses).
- The team has not scored in 5 of their last 7 away games in this European competition.
- No more than two goals have been scored in regular time in 4 of the last 5 away matches for the Bosnians in the Conference League.
Predicted lineup for Borac (3-4-3)
Filip Manojlović – Bart Meijers, Karolina Jurich, Viktor Rogan – Sandi Ogrinec, Stefan Savić, Boban Nikolov, Zoran Kvržić – Đorđe Despotović, Enver Kulasin, David Vuković.
Midfielder Zoran Kvržić and forward Damir Hrlea are injured.
Referee
Allard Lindhout (Netherlands)
Matches – 9 (International matches, 2024/25);
Yellow cards shown (including second yellows) – 48;
Average yellow cards per match – 5.3;
Red cards shown – 1;
Average fouls per match – 25;
Penalties – 22%.
Rapid vs. Borac: Match Prediction
At home, the Austrians rarely manage to please their fans with a high-scoring game in attack. Although Rapid scores fairly regularly, they only surpass one goal on rare occasions: in eight of their last home games in the Conference League, the team failed to score more than one goal in seven matches. Furthermore, in three home encounters during this period, the team did not score at all.
Borac also struggles with attacking quality, especially in away matches: in none of their last seven away games in the Conference League did the club score more than once. Moreover, in their last three away matches in this European competition, the Bosnians did not score at all. However, the team can be reliable in defense: in four away matches in the current Conference League campaign, Borac conceded only five goals.
I do not expect this to be a high-scoring match, so my prediction: Total under 2.5 goals
