Bayer Leverkusen vs Stuttgart prediction 17.08.2024 | Super Cup

• Competition: Super Cup 
• Date: Saturday, 17th August, 2024
• Kickoff: 19:30 UK / 20:30 CEST
• Venue: BayArena (Leverkusen)

About a week before the Bundesliga starts, Bayer Leverkusen, the league and Cup winners, will host a Super Cup game against the Bundesliga vice-champions, Stuttgart, at BayArena in Leverkusen.

Bayer Leverkusen had an absolutely monster season, winning both domestic competitions. They were close to winning a treble, but Atalanta outplayed them in the Europa League Finals. Considering this Bundesliga title is their first ever, and the Cup title is their second ever in 120-year-old history makes this double title particularly special. Despite all speculations that some of their key players, and maybe even the coach, Xabi Alonso, could leave the club, that did not happen, and they only improved the team. So, it is fair to expect they will be among the favorites to win the Bundesliga title once again. Right now, the bookies see them as the second favorite to win the title with the odds 3.51, only behind Bayern Munich (1.5 odds).

Stuttgart had an incredible season last year. They finished second in the league but nowhere close to winning the title, considering Bayer left them 17 points behind. Still, considering they battled against relegation two years before the last season makes this achievement more incredible. However, over the Summer, they lost some key players, and even though they added replacements, we believe they are much weaker.

Bayer Leverkusen vs Stuttgart pick: Over 2.5 goals

Under Xabi Alonso, Bayer Leverkusen plays exciting, free-flowing offensive football, and there is no chance they will try to change something that worked great last season. In the Bundesliga, Alonso's side scored 89 goals in 34 rounds - 2.6 per game. At home, they were even better, with 2.8 goals per game.

Similarly to Bayer, Stuttgart were also excellent offensively and, with 78 scored goals, was the third-best offensive team, behind Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. Yes, their top scorer, Guirassy, left, and they will not be as effective, but they still have a lot of good players up front, and we strongly believe they can score against anyone.

These teams were both over 2.5 goals in 25 of 34 Bundesliga games - 73.5% and continued with playing hih-scoring games in the pre-season. Bayer Leverkusen were over 2.5 goals three of four friendlies while Stuttgart were over 2.5 in four of five friendlies.

In the previous season, these teams met three times and were over 2.5 goals on two occasions. However, even when they were under (1:1), we saw two goals, and it was a miracle we hadn't seen more goals, considering they were combined for 6.33 xG!

Considering the previous h2h games and all the above, we expect at least three goals in this Super Cup tie.