Our prediction for this Europa League match:
Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen face each other at Gewiss Stadium in what is expected to be one of the most exciting games of Thursday’s program. Atalanta rolled over Olympiakos (5-1 on agg.) in the last 32, but they head into the match following a 1-0 loss to Roma. Rafael Toloi is back from a domestic ban, while Luis Muriel should be recalled to the starting XI.
Bayer Leverkusen, on the other hand, did well to hold Bayern Munich to a 1-1 draw at the weekend, meaning that they are high on confidence ahead of the trip to Bergamo. Anyhow, a close encounter is on the cards at Gewiss Stadium, and we believe that there is a big value in betting on draw. All Patrik Schick, Karim Bellarabi, and Andrey Lunev are out of contention with injuries for the visiting side.
Highlighted Player (Duvan Zapata):
Duvan Zapata was born in Cali, Colombia on 1 April, 1991. The 186-cm-tall attacker started his youth career at America de Cali, playing for the club between 2004 and 2008. In 2008 he made his debut for the first team and three years later he scored his first hat-trick for the Colombian outfit, in a 3-2 win over Deportivo Pereira.
In 2011 he signed a loan deal with Estudiantes and he found the net for the Argentine team on his debut against Belgrano. After scoring 11 goals in 37 appearances for Estudiantes, the Colombian striker joined Napoli in 2013, but he failed to establish himself as a first-choice attacker.
On 22 July, 2015 Zapata joined fellow Serie A team Udinese on loan and it has to be noted that he scored eight goals in 24 league appearances for the Zebrette. Duvan Zapata has 5 caps for Colombia U20 team, but he has yet to make his debut for the senior side.
Highlighted Team (Bayer Leverkusen):
Bayer 04 Leverkusen is a German football club from the city Leverkusen in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. The home kit of Bayer Leverkusen is black and red. The club is playing his home games in the Bay Arena.
Bayer Leverkusen started to play in the Bundesliga from season 1979/1980. In 1988 Bayer Leverkusen managed to win the UEFA Cup by beating Espanyol in the final with 1-0. In the national league Bayer Leverkusen has been the most successful in the last couple of years with the 2nd place as their best performance.
Bayer Leverkusen never managed to win the league title. The current biggest rival of Bayer Leverkusen is 1. Koln. Next to football Bayer Leverkusen has a volleyball and basketball division as well. Currently Bayer Leverkusen is one of the biggest teams in the Bundesliga. Known players that played for Bayer Leverkusen are: Michael Ballack, Rudi Voller, Lucio and Arturo Vidal.