RB Leipzig vs Real Sociedad Predictions: Expect chances in what should be an entertaining game

RB Leipzig take on Real Sociedad in the round of 32 first leg on Thursday evening in the Europa League.

Leipzig were one of the more unfortunate sides to drop into the Europa League, mainly due to the fact that their Champions League group included Man City and PSG. Still, a decent seven points in the group stage, which featured a win over UCL favourites City, will give them confidence heading into these knockout rounds. It’s been all change at the German club, with American head-coach Jesse Marsch being given the boot following some poor domestic results. New manager Domenico Tedesco has started well at the club, with a string of good results seeing them climb back into the top four of the Bundesliga.

Real Sociedad are currently going well in La Liga, placed sixth, but just one point behind Barcelona in fourth place. They came through a tough Europa League group which saw them beat PSV in the last game to qualify for this round, and feature a number of familiar faces. The likes of Alexander Isak, Adnan Januzaj, Mikel Oyarzabal, David Silva and Mat Ryan to name a few, will cause problems for any side left in this tournament. As ever, we’ve looked ahead to the game, and picked out two bets that we’ll keep our eye on.

First off, we can’t talk about RB Leipzig without mentioning Christopher Nkunku. One of Europe’s most highly rated talents, he’s been in ridiculous form this season, with only five players having been involved in more goals than him across Europe’s top five leagues. In all competitions this season, he’s played 31 games, scored 19 goals, and assisted 13 times, which is even more impressive considering he’s not an out and out striker. 

This price caught my eye for this game, with Nkunku already having scored against all three opponents in the Champions League group stage (including a hat-trick at Man City), he’s the go to man to get the German side firing. Oh, and he’s also scored four goals in his last five games, so he might fancy his chances here.

Next up, an old favourite in terms of markets for me, team to win and both teams to score. I’ve gone with Leipzig as the team to win this one, purely as I think they’re the stronger outfit, with the likes of Nkunku, Olmo and Silva leading them forward to name a few. This bet landed in Leipzig’s last fixture against Koln, with BTTS landing in each of their last two. Notably, BTTS also landed in all but one of the German side’s six Champions League group games. BTTS also landed in four of Sociedad’s group stage games, and their previously mentioned attacking talents should see a good end-to-end game.

Good luck if you’re following these bets, and please gamble responsibly.