Bayer Leverkusen open their UEFA Europa League league stage campaign at home to Celje on Wednesday evening, with kick-off at 19:00 UTC at the BayArena. Both sides enter the competition with no points recorded, and the 34-team table is yet to take shape.
Leverkusen arrive in mid-table in their domestic competition, though their recent form offers plenty of encouragement. They have taken 10 points from their last five matches, a run that includes three wins, one draw and one defeat. Their most recent outing ended in a 2-2 draw, while a 4-0 victory and a 4-1 win also feature among those five results.
Celje come into this fixture sitting in the top third of the UEFA Europa League table, though that position is based on the same blank slate as every other side at this opening stage. Their last five results present a more mixed picture: five matches have yielded two draws, one win and two defeats, amounting to 5 points across that spell. Their most recent match ended in a 1-2 home loss to Slovan Bratislava.
The points gap between the two sides in the Europa League table currently stands at zero, making this an entirely open contest on paper. Leverkusen's superior recent form — 10 points against Celje's 5 over the past five matches — is the most tangible differentiator ahead of kick-off.
With the league stage spanning 34 teams, every point in these early fixtures carries weight. Wednesday's match at the BayArena is the first opportunity for either side to register on the table.