In the second round of fixtures of the revamped Champions League , Austrian champions Sturm Graz are set to host Belgian champions Club Brugge at Merkur Arena on Wednesday. The home team began their European campaign with a 2-1 defeat against Brest on September 19 and are 26th in the Champions League table , while the away side lost 3-0 against Borussia Dortmund on September 18 and are sixth last in 31st place. © Imago The new Champions League's league phase got underway two weeks ago, but Sturm Graz began their campaign in disappointing fashion against Brest, conceding five big chances while only creating one of their own.
Brest scored their first goal of the game in the 23rd minute when Hugo Magnetti struck into the bottom-right corner from the edge of the box after Sturm Graz had cleared a throw in. Boss Christian Ilzer 's team got back on level terms after benefitting from an own goal in the first minute of first-half stoppage time, but he will be disappointed that his side conceded the winner in the 56th minute when they failed to properly deal with a long pass into the box from near the halfway line. The hosts are currently first in the Austrian Bundesliga with 16 points from eight games, but while they won 2-1 last time out on September 28, that was their first win in their last three league matches.
In fact, the win was their first in their last four games in all competitions, though prior to these games they did win their previous five fixtures. Sturm Graz have won .