Bayer Leverkusen vs Celje — UEFA Europa League: stats, lineups & analysis
HighlightsUEFAUEFA.comMatch Events
play_arrow2 clips- 15′Bayer Leverkusen, own goal:1–0Own goal
- Half-time1 – 0
- 60′Bayer Leverkusen, substitution:off
- 61′Bayer Leverkusen, substitution:off
- 61′Bayer Leverkusen, substitution:off
- 61′Celje, substitution:off
- 61′Celje, substitution:off
- 69′Celje, substitution:off
- 71′Bayer Leverkusen, substitution:off
- 74′Bayer Leverkusen, goal:2–0assist
- 80′Bayer Leverkusen, substitution:off
- 80′Celje, substitution:off
- Full-time2 – 0
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Bayer Leverkusen
Celje
Match report
Bayer Leverkusen see off Celje in Europa League opener
Bayer Leverkusen began their UEFA Europa League league-stage campaign with a 2-0 victory over Celje at BayArena, a result built on an early gift and a second-half strike. The win moved Carles Martinez's side off to a winning start in the competition's opening round.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data.
The hosts were ahead inside 15 minutes when Svit Sešlar turned the ball into his own net, giving Leverkusen a lead they never relinquished. That score stood through half-time before Facundo Medina doubled the advantage in the 74th minute, finishing off an assist from Aleix García to put the contest beyond Celje's reach.
Leverkusen dominated proceedings throughout, controlling possession and creating far more from open play than their visitors managed. Celje goalkeeper Žan-Luk Leban kept the deficit from growing further with a string of saves, while Mark Flekken was rarely troubled at the other end as Celje struggled to register meaningful attacking threat.
Leban was Celje's best performer despite the defeat, producing enough saves to earn an 8.7 rating and keep the scoreline from getting away from his side. García also impressed for Leverkusen, setting up Medina's goal to cap a productive display.
Leverkusen's 17 shots to Celje's five underlined how thoroughly they controlled the attacking exchanges.
Bayer Leverkusen beat Celje 2–0 (half-time 1–0).
Bayer Leverkusen met Celje in the UEFA Europa League (League Stage - 1). Kick-off was Wednesday, 16 September 2026, 19:00 UTC at BayArena. Referee: Jasper Vergoote.
Team pages: Bayer Leverkusen · Celje · UEFA Europa League
Key moments
- 15' Goal (own goal): Svit Sešlar — 1–0 · Watch Svit Sešlar's goal video (15')
- 74' Goal: Facundo Medina (assist: Aleix García) — 2–0 · Watch Facundo Medina's goal video (74')
Starting line-ups
Bayer Leverkusen (4-2-3-1)
Celje (4-2-3-1)
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave Bayer Leverkusen 89%, the draw 8%, Celje 3%. It finished Bayer Leverkusen 2–0 Celje.
Bayer Leverkusen's rating gap decides it — Bayer Leverkusen are clearly the stronger side on our strength rating, and UEFA Europa League home advantage on top makes it one-sided for Bayer Leverkusen. The draw at 8% is trimmed by a league that produces few draws.
Why Bayer Leverkusen at 89%?
Bayer Leverkusen sit 463 points higher on our strength rating — 2008 to 1545. Sides with a more than 300-point rating edge at home won 79.8% of 5,134 such games. UEFA Europa League home sides out-perform the global norm — and the difference mostly flows to draws (22.8% vs 24.9% norm). UEFA Europa League homes won 47.6% of 4,438 games vs 44.9% across all 100,233 — outside the noise band, so the tally moves accordingly. The 300 most similar past games finished 87–10–3.
Why not higher?
No scored evidence points the other way. 89% is what this rating gap has been worth in games like these; the rest is the draw at 8% and Celje at 3%.
Why is the draw only 8%?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 11.2%. These teams' recent games average 3.5 goals — a high-scoring environment. Games in that environment drew 22.8% of 17,225. UEFA Europa League produces fewer draws than most, taking 2.1 points off.
What did we measure but not count?
Bayer Leverkusen are 4 games into a new manager (Carles Martínez), appointed 25 days ago. The famous new-manager bounce doesn't survive its receipt: sides with a new manager beat their rating by 0.9 points over 33,420 games — but sides on an equally bad run who kept their manager beat it by 2.4 over 31,777. Celje are missing 2 regular starters — Mario Kvesić, Artemijus Tutyškinas — about 29% of their usual starting-XI weight. A body count alone told us nothing.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the Bayer Leverkusen vs Celje final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this UEFA Europa League fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from Bayer Leverkusen 2–0 Celje. Explore more on the Bayer Leverkusen and Celje team pages or the UEFA Europa League page.