Our prediction for this Europa League match:
Brondby and Olympique Lyon go head to head at Brondby Stadion in what is expected to be one of the most exciting games of Thursday’s program. The Danes are eyeing their first win of the process, and they have no other choice but to go all guns blazing at les Gones. Brondby did well to beat Midtjylland in the Danish Superliga derby, but they will have a much bigger fish to fry against Olympique Lyon. Both Skipper and Wikstrom should miss out with injuries for the hosts.
The Ligue 1 outfit, on the other hand, did well to beat Sparta Prague in their last group game, with the team booking their place in the Europa League knockout stages. Since the visitors should be happy with one point from Thursday’s clash, we are tempted to put our money on draw. Tinotenda Kadewere returns from a domestic ban, while both Jason Denayer and Moussa Dembele are facing race against clock to be fit for the Europa League clash.
Highlighted Player (Karl Toko-Ekambi):
Karl Toko Ekambi is a professional footballer who plays for Ligue 1 club Angers as a striker. Ekambi was born in Paris on September 14 1992, but he does not represent les Tricolores on the international stage. The 183-cm-tall attacker plays for Cameroon and it has to be noted that he made his senior debut for les Lions Indomptables in a 3-2 win over Burkina Faso back in June, 2015.
Ekambi came as a substitute in the 77th minute of the match, replacing fellow attacker Mengolo. The Cameroonian footballer played for Paris FC during his youth career and he made his first-team debut for the capital club on April 26, 2011 in a 2-2 draw with Beauvais. Karl Toko Ekambi scored 21 goals in 66 appearances for Paris from 2010 to 2014 and at the end of the 2013/2014 season he joined Sochaux.
After netting 25 goals in 72 appearances for the club, in the summer of 2016 Ekambi signed a contract with Angers which expires on June 30, 2020.
Highlighted Team (Lyon):
Commonly referred to as Lyon, Olympique Lyonnais is the French club which play their games at the Parc Olimpique Lyonnais with a capacity just a pinch short of 60,000. Lyon is one of the most popular clubs in France with a vast fan base on par with Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille.
The club achieved moderate success during the 1960s and 1970s led by the likes of Bernard Lacombe and Jean Djorkaeff, while the golden era of the French side came at the start of the new millennium when Lyon began to achieve greater success both in France and on the international level.
It was not until 2002 that Lyon won their first ever Ligue 1 title which sparked an ongoing national record-breaking streak of seven successive titles. During that time Lyon were regular participants of the UEFA Champions League. The French club reached quarter-finals on two occasions, while they even played in the semi-finals in the 2009-10 season.