Preview: Rapid Vienna vs. Genk - prediction, team news, lineups

As the Europa League group stage kicks off on Thursday, Genk will make the trip to Austria to take on Rapid Vienna.

The hosts progressed through qualification to reach this stage, while their visitors dropped into the Europa League after suffering a defeat in the Champions League third qualifying round.

Match preview

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After achieving a second-placed finish in the Austrian Bundesliga last season, Rapid Vienna earned entry into the second qualifying round for the Champions League, but they made an abrupt exit.

Despite defeating Sparta Prague 2-1 in the home leg, The Green-Whites were unable to progress as they were handed a 2-0 defeat in the Czech capital, forcing them to battle for a spot in the Europa League.

Their qualifying campaign for Europe's secondary competition began in the third round, and they handed Cypriot outfit Anorthosis Famagusta a 4-2 aggregate defeat to progress to the playoff round, with Zorya Luhansk awaiting.

Dietmar Kuhbauer's immediately took control, as Ercan Kara, Taxiarchis Fountas and Marco Grull got on the scoresheet in a 3-0 home victory, before they wrapped up a dominant performance with a 3-2 win in Ukraine.

After a slow start to the domestic season, collecting just eight points from their first seven games in the top flight, The Green-Whites will hope to start the group stage with a positive result when they welcome Genk to the Austrian capital.

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Having finished second in the Belgian top flight last season, ending level on points with champions Club Brugge, Genk secured entry into the third qualifying round for the Champions League, but they crashed out after suffering back-to-back 2-1 defeats at the hands of Shakhtar Donetsk.

The four-time Belgian champions have had a mixed start to the domestic season, collecting just one point from their first two top-flight outings, before stringing three consecutive victories together as they defeated Kortrijk, Leuven and Anderlecht.

However, John van den Brom's side now come into Thursday's game on the back of a relatively disappointing draw, having been held by Union Saint-Gilloise last time out, with their opponents drawing level in the 95th minute after Genk looked set to win 1-0 thanks to Paul Onuachu's opener.

Having missed out on European football altogether last year, the Belgian outfit will look to start the campaign with what would be an impressive victory to immediately boost their qualification hopes.

Team News

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Rapid Vienna have been hit by several injuries, as Oliver Strunz, Christopher Dibon, Filip Stojkovic, Robert Ljubicic, Lion Schuster are all expected to miss out on Thursday.

Their line will be led by Ercan Kara, with the support of Taxiarchis Fountas, who has netted seven goals in 14 appearances in all competitions this season.

Leo Greiml and Maximilian Hofmann should again reform their centre-back pairing, shielding goalkeeper Richard Strebinger.

Paul Onuachu will lead the Genk line with renewed confidence, having taken his tally to three league goals from five appearances last time out.

Van den Brom should stick with a midfield trio of Bryan Heynen, Carel Eiting and Kristian Thorstvedt in his preferred system, with Junya Ito and Theo Bongonda offering threat from the wings.

Rapid Vienna possible starting lineup:
Strebinger; Stojkovic, Greiml, Hofmann, Ullman; Grahovac, Petrovic; Grull, Fountas, Arase; Kara

Genk possible starting lineup:
Vandevoort; Munoz, Cuesta, Lucumi, Arteaga; Heynen, Eiting, Thorstvedt; Ito, Onuachu, Bongonda

We say: Rapid Vienna 1-1 Genk

In what should certainly be a closely-fought encounter, we cannot quite pick a winner on Thursday.

Both sides have demonstrated impressive attacking prowess, but we do not quite see either taking the game by the scruff of the neck, instead opting for a draw with both finding the net.