Team news and predicted lineups

Here is our preview, including predicted line-ups, for Thursday’s Europa League round of 16 second leg clash between Ferencvaros and Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayer Leverkusen have one foot in the Europa League quarter-finals after a 2-0 win over Ferencvaros at the BayArena last week and will be looking to finish the job in Budapest on Thursday night.

But despite the good result in the first leg, Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes is not taking anything for granted.

“The starting position is good, but nothing is decided yet. We saw in the first leg that [Ferencvaros] are a good team and they had their chances. They will give everything, and so will we,” Rolfes said on Wednesday.

Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso is expected to make several changes to the team that beat Werder Bremen 3-2 on Sunday, with Edmond Tapsoba, Florian Wirtz and Sardar Azmoun all in line to return to the starting line-up after being rested.

Charles Aranguiz (calf) and Andrey Lunev (back) are definitely out, while Karim Bellarabi (illness) and Patrik Schick (groin) are doubts.

While Leverkusen are on a three-game winning streak, Ferencvaros are winless in their last three matches and suffered their first domestic defeat since October on Sunday, losing 1-2 at home to Puskas Academy.

All in all, the Hungarian champions face an uphill battle in Thursday’s return leg, but the Group H winners have already shown this season that they can upset the odds.

Ferencvaros have no new injury concerns, but will be without Besic (ACL) and Owuso (knee).

Click here to see our predicted lineups for the game.

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