Sturm Graz – Rennes Preview – can Rennes carry their PSG shock into Austria?
Sturm Graz open their Europa League league phase at home to Rennes on Wednesday 16 September at 19:00 GMT, and anyone weighing up Sturm Graz vs Rennes betting tips this week has landed on a genuinely open fixture. Neither side arrives with much of an edge on paper. Sturm are still finding their footing domestically, while Rennes touched down in continental football on the back of one of the results of the French season so far.
Graz have not looked like the sharp, front-foot side Austrian football fans expect from them this term. One point from their opening league match and a 1-1 draw away to Austria Lustenau most recently put them sixth in the table, and that is not where this club usually sits in August. The summer signing of striker Nicklas Weiper from Mainz should help; he gives them a focal point up top that was missing at times last season. Widen the lens a little, though, and Sturm have actually won three of their last five matches heading into the new campaign, which suggests the flat start is more hiccup than genuine slump. If you want the fuller picture of how this squad copes under continental pressure, our coverage of the two legs against Fenerbahce earlier this summer is worth a look.
Rennes come into this in a very different mood. A rough pre-season, four defeats from seven friendlies, gave no hint they would open their Ligue 1 campaign by beating Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 at Roazhon Park. They did exactly that. New arrival Adrien Thomasson was fit and pushing for minutes around that same weekend, adding an extra option to a squad that suddenly has a result to lean on whenever the pre-season doubts resurface. Beating PSG does not erase a shaky summer, but it changes how a dressing room feels walking into a trip to Austria.
Sturm Graz – Rennes Betting Tips
None of our three tips leans on picking a winner outright. The shape of this game points to goals and to Rennes causing problems, not to a home banker.
Betting Tip: Both teams to score
Rennes just put three past a PSG side that is normally miles tighter at the back than Sturm, and Sturm’s own defence shipped a goal in a 1-1 draw last time out. Both attacks look capable of scoring here, and neither back line looks settled enough to guarantee a clean sheet.
Betting Tip: Over 2.5 goals
A Rennes team that scored three against PSG and a Sturm side that conceded in their most recent league match points to a game with goals at both ends rather than a cagey draw. Check the latest match odds before kickoff, since a market like this can move once team news lands.
Betting Tip: Double chance, Rennes or draw
Sturm are sitting on one point from their opening league game, while Rennes have just beaten one of Europe’s better sides on the road. Backing Rennes to avoid defeat covers the two most likely outcomes of a night where the away side has every reason to believe.
If this preview leaves you with one takeaway, make it that: a home Sturm side under a little pressure, and a Rennes team that just proved to itself it can beat anybody on its day.
Why the form guide undersells both sides
Sturm’s league position looks worse than the underlying form, and Rennes’ pre-season looks worse than the version of them that turned up against PSG. Put those two things together and you get a match that is harder to call than the table or the summer results would suggest, closer to a coin toss than a mismatch. Anyone who followed the return leg of Sturm’s tie with Fenerbahce will know this squad tends to raise its level for continental nights at home, and that habit alone keeps Rennes’ task honest.
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