Ahead of last week's first leg at the Stadio Olimpico, the thinking was that there would be very little to split these two sides and that indeed proved to be the case.

Hosts Lazio edged the encounter 1-0, but it is only a slender lead as they prepare for the second leg of the Champions League qualifier at the BayArena tomorrow night.

Leverkusen

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Roger Schmidt can be nothing but pleased by the way that his side have started the new Bundesliga campaign.

From two matches, the men in red and black stripes have collected six points courtesy of victories over Hoffenheim and Hannover.

However, the blot on their 2015-16 copybook came in the Stadio Olimpico a week ago. Schmidt made it clear in the days leading up to the game that an away goal was crucial, but despite creating a number of chances, it never materialised.

Nevertheless, speaking after that game, the Leverkusen boss told reporters: "It was an intense match. We had several opportunities to score, but we weren't able to do so. However, Lazio did - they have a strong team. Now we have the return match where we will try to overturn this result.

"Ahead of the home tie, we will work on our counter-attacking and on our defensive game. We will do our best. We have worked well in recent weeks and we are pretty confident."

They have a positive recent European home record to fall back on, having come out victorious on four of their previous five outings in front of their own supporters.

Recent form: WLDWLL
Recent form (all competitions): WWWWLW

Lazio

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When Miroslav Klose picked up an injury in the first leg, it was initially viewed as a disaster for Lazio. However, the German striker's absence turned out to be a blessing in disguise because his replacement - Keita Balde Diao - ended up scoring the only goal of the game.

Yet, despite the victory, head coach Stefano Pioli has admitted that his side will need to make improvements for this encounter if Le Aquile are to appear in the group stages of the Champions League for the first time since 2007.

"It was a difficult and complicated match. Leverkusen played direct and aggressive football. We made some mistakes, but playing Leverkusen is not easy. We could have scored more but the result is certainly positive," he told reporters.

"The result does not change much for the return leg - there is still a battle to be fought. Lazio want to play in the UEFA Champions League and we showed that tonight too, but we have to improve if we want a positive result at the BayArena next week."

Domestically, Pioli's side got their Serie A campaign off to a positive start courtesy of a 2-1 home win over Bologna.

They have also shown good form away from home in European encounters, losing just one of their last 11 outings.

Recent form: DLWLLW
Recent form (all competitions): LLLLWW

Team News

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The recent victory over Bologna came at a cost for Lazio, who lost captain Lucas Biglia to a calf injury that is expected to sideline him for a month.

Klose has also been ruled out of the encounter, as have goalkeeper Federico Marchetti and centre-forward Filip Djordjevic.

The absence of Biglia has left the biggest hole to fill, though, with Danilo Cataldi and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic believed to be in contention to replace the Argentine.

Leverkusen also have injury problems of their own, with new signing Charles Aranguiz ruled out until next year because of a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Defender Tim Jedvej will also not recover in time from a muscular complaint.

Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Leno; Hilbert, Tah, Papadopoulos, Wendell; Bender, Kramer, Bellarabi, Son, Calhanoglu; Kiessling

Lazio possible starting lineup:
Berisha; Basta, De Vrij, Mauricio, Lulic; Onazi, Cataldi, Parolo; Candreva, Balde, Felipe Anderson

Head To Head

Lazio's win last week was the first one between these teams, with the other two encounters in 1999 having ended in draws.

The Italians have made five previous visits to Germany, but they have only come out on top once.

We say: Leverkusen 2-0 Lazio

The Bundesliga outfit created some good chances in the first leg and if they can repeat that this time around, you would expect them to convert some of them. Lazio will not roll over, but the Germans should have enough to advance through.

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