Strasbourg were unfortunate to leave the MEWA Arena with a 2-0 defeat in the first leg against Mainz, which puts them up against it on Thursday night. That was Strasbourg’s first defeat in the Conference League this season, highlighting how strong they have competed so far, and the French side will hope to get back on track here.
Strasbourg have been much better on home turf this campaign, and they will relish a return to the La Meinau Stadium here. They have won eight of their 14 matches at home in Ligue 1, with 24 goals scored and just ten conceded.
As evidenced in the first leg, Mainz are happy to sit back once they have the lead, so they are likely to go with quite pragmatic tactics midweek. Losing by one goal will suffice for them to progress to the semi-finals, which means Strasbourg should dominate.