Salzburg host Club Brugge in the Champions League Third Qualifying Round on Wednesday, looking to seal a place in the play-off round against Rangers or Viktoria Plzen. Both sides have featured regularly in the group/league phase of UEFA's premier tournament in recent years, and this tie is a heavyweight clash given the European pedigree of these opponents. While either side would be devastated to be knocked out at this stage, they will both have turbulent summers to blame for any lack of preparedness.

Thanks to Austria and the club's European exploits of recent years, Salzburg were one of the sides who secured a spot at the Club World Cup in the summer. Despite winning their opening match 2-1 against Mexican side Pachuca, a 0-0 draw with Saudi Al-Hilal and a 3-0 thumping by Real Madrid meant that Salzburg failed to progress from their group. Salzburg then took just 2 weeks off, beginning their pre-season friendly matches in mid-July to prepare them for their Austrian Bundesliga and Champions League campaigns. After a comfortable 5-1 dismantling of Brann over the two legs last round, focus now switches to their tough tie against Brugge.

Salzburg's return to domestic football has been mixed, with a straightforward cup win over third tier Dietach between the Brann legs being followed up by a poor 2-2 draw with Ried in which Salzburg scored an equaliser in the 96th minute. What will have irked manager Thomas Letsch almost as much as the draw is yet another injury, this time to forward man Karim Onisiwo. This means that due to injury and an extremely busy window of squad turnover, Salzburg will be without the services of:

- Key CF Karim Konate, important winger Moussa Kounfolo Yeo and veteran forward Onisiwo.

- Midfielders Kawamura, Sulzbacher and Omoregie. Key young attacking midfield talent Oscar Gloukh has been sold to Ajax while Capaldo has moved to Hamburg.

- Defenders Mellberg and Anrie Chase. Starting CB Baidoo has been sold to Lens.

- Teenage GK Zawieschitzky is ruled out after playing all three CWC matches.

For Brugge, the start to their season has been similarly mixed. Having edged Union SG to the Belgian Super Cup and getting 3 points on the board in a tough opener against Genk, the Brugge giants then fell to a surprising 2-1 defeat away at Mechelen. Brugge can also point to high levels of squad turnover this summer as a reason for some patchy form, as the Belgian side capitalised on a successful campaign last year to refresh their squad. Key men De Cuyper and Talbi departed for €20m each, while star player Ardon Jashari is yet to feature this season as he nears closer to a €40m move to Milan. Reliable front man Jutglà has moved back to Spain to join Celta Vigo while rotation CM Casper Nielsen has made the move to Standard Liege.

While these busy summers are to be expected at teams who operate successful player trading models, it can make the early season preparations difficult and inconsistent. Brugge have added well to the squad, signing strong CM Reis, as well as securing direct replacements for Talbi and Jutglà with the purchases of Forbs and Tresoldi. Strong young Serbian international Stankovic has also joined to bolster the CB/CDM position. Brugge are not without their own injury woes however as key CB Ordonez, starting RB Sabbe and important forward man Nilsson are all ruled out with injury. Wide forward Skoras will also miss out.

We anticipate that given the enormous stakes in this match, and the disruptive effect of such high levels of squad turnover and injury, the first leg in Salzburg is likely to be a very cagey affair. The Under Goals line therefore looks like value as both sides look to extend their chances into the second leg. Brugge's last trip to Austria on Champions League duty came in October last year, and the Belgians took their first win of the UCL league phase stage with a tight 1-0 victory over Sturm Graz that saw just 1.08 xG and 5 shots on target. We won't be surprised to see a similar match play out this evening.