PSV Eindhoven vs SK Sturm Graz Preview

Austrian football club side Sturm Graz will travel to the Netherlands this Tuesday to face PSV Eindhoven in the third round of the Champions League group stage qualifiers.

The hosts are looking to return to the Champions League group stages for the first time since 2018/19. Although the Farmers have now played in the competition proper, they have not reached the play-off round in their last two attempts, losing to Rangers and Benfica.

They will be confident of winning this first leg having won the season-opening Johan Cruyff Shield with a 1-0 win over Feyenoord last week.

Also, their form in pre-season has shown that they mean business, with four wins from five friendly games. New manager Peter Bosz after his appointment spoke about “reviving the times” when PSV dominated Dutch football.

He will hope to start showing signs of that happening by qualifying for the UCL. But to do so, he will need to halt the host’s six-game winless run in this competition over 90 minutes of action (D4, L2).

Meanwhile, Sturm Graz haven’t played in the Champions League group stage since 2001. Their hope of breaking that long drought will be buoyed by their unbeaten start (W3) to competitive action this season.

However, their poor recent record in UCL qualifiers since their last group-phase appearance (W2, D3, L7) casts doubt upon their aspirations.

The visitors have failed to win any of their five away games against Dutch clubs (D1, L4), including a 2-0 defeat at PSV in November 2021. That run includes a club record joint-heaviest European defeat (6-0) last season against Feyenoord, so the Austrians aren’t likely to look at history for inspiration.

Even their recent UCL away record doesn’t provide much solace as Sturm has lost eight of their last 12 games on the road in the competition (W1, D3). Meanwhile, PSV have won each of their six home UCL games in the third qualifying round, four with a clean sheet.