Cruzeiro will play in this game coming off the back of a 1-1 Serie A drawn result against São Paulo.

It has not been often in recent games where Cruzeiro haven’t conceded. The facts show that Cruzeiro have been scored against in 5 of their previous 6 games, shipping 9 goals during that time.

Heading into this fixture, Cruzeiro have not registered a win against Bahia in their last 2 league games.

In their last game, Bahia drew 1-1 in the Serie A tie with Mirassol.

In that match, Bahia managed 57% possession and 17 shots at goal with 2 on target. The scorer for Bahia was Erick Pulga (40′). On the other side, Mirassol had 5 attempts on goal with 3 on target. Gabriel (17′) was the scorer for Mirassol.

For 5 of the prior six games involving Bahia, a comparatively low number of goals have been struck between them and their opponents. The overall average goals scored per game in that spell works out to just 2.17, with the average goals for Tricolor de Aço equalling 1.33. We will see whether or not that trend will be sustained into this next match.

Taking a look at their past results, Bahia:

• have left without a victory over Cruzeiro in games played away from home for the previous 7 matches in the league. Not good at all.
• have not won away from home in their last 2 matches in the league.

 Head to head

Looking at the statistics for their head to head meetings stretching back to 09/04/2022, there is nothing to separate the two clubs with Cruzeiro winning 2 of those games, Bahia 2 and 2 being draws in normal time.

17 goals were produced between them during those clashes, with 8 of them for Celeste and 9 netted by Tricolor de Aço. The average number of goals per game works out to 2.83.

The last league contest between these clubs was Serie A match day 30 on 19/10/2024 when it ended Cruzeiro 1-1 Bahia.

That time, Cruzeiro had 49% possession and 11 shots at goal with 3 of them on target. Their only player on the scoresheet was Gabriel Veron (61′).

Bahia got 10 shots on goal with 4 of them on target. Luciano Rodríguez (82′) scored.

The referee was Flavio Rodrigues de Souza.

 Team News: Cruzeiro

João Marcelo (Torn knee ligaments), Matheus Henrique (Meniscus injury), Japa (Inflammation of the biceps tendon in the thigh), Juan Dinenno (Cruciate ligament injury) and Yannick Bolasie (Knock) won’t be able to feature for Cruzeiro gaffer Leonardo Jardim.

 Team News: Bahia

Bahia boss Rogério Ceni has multiple availability issues to deal with. Luciano Rodríguez (Muscle fatigue), Gabriel Xavier (Calf injury), Kanu (Muscle injury), Iago (Thigh problems) and Michel Araújo (Hamstring injury) are those who can’t be considered.

 Prediction

Looking at these two teams, we feel that Bahia are certainly able to put a goal past this Cruzeiro side, although that possibly won’t quite be as many as they’ll concede.

Our tip is for a very close game with a 2-1 victory for Cruzeiro when all is said and done. There shouldn’t be much in it, either way.

Jagiellonia failed to be more competitive in a 2:0 defeat in the first leg against Real Betis and now have a hell of a task in order to reach the semi-finals.

They appeared passive and couldn’t expect a better outcome, conceding twice in the first halftime. They did however bounced back with a huge victory away to Legia keeping their title chances alive. Defender Sacek (19/0) is out for the hosts.

Betis showed all of their supremacy in the first leg scoring twice in the first halftime and making a giant step towards the semi-finals.

Caught up in a busy schedule they suffered 1:2 defeat at home against Villarreal over the weekend, losing realistically their chance for the Champions League ticket. Defender Llorente (30/2), midfielder Carvalho (7/0), forwards Hernendez (8/2) and Avila (19/2) won’t be playing.

Even though it’s a two-goals deficit, I’m sure the Polish team will try to revert the result, attacking from the very first phase of the game as they anyway perform way better in front of the own crowd. Betis won’t be staying passive for too long and definitely have everything what it takes to be threatening too.