Maccabi Tel Aviv and FCSB will resume their Champions League second-round qualification battle when they meet in the second leg on Wednesday evening.
Owing to the current situation between Israel and Hamas, this second-leg encounter will take place in neutral Hungary at the Bozsik Arena in Budapest.
Match preview
© Reuters
It is still all to play for when these sides lock horns in midweek as there was nothing to separate the teams in the first leg, which ended in a 1-1 draw last week in Bucharest.
Maccabi Tel Aviv earned their spot in this competition by winning the Israeli Premier League last season with 85 points in 36 games, nine points ahead of arch-rivals Maccabi Haifa in the final standings.
They are returning to Champions League qualification for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign, but have been regular participants in the Europa and Conference League competitions in recent seasons.
With the Israeli top flight yet to get underway this season, the Yellows' preparation for this tie included three friendlies which they were unbeaten in, as well as a 2-0 victory in the Super Cup against Maccabi Petah Tikva on July 15.
Following last week's stalemate, new boss Zarko Lazetic remains unbeaten since arriving at the club at the start of the month, and another victory here will see his side book a date with the winner of Shamrock Rovers and Sparta Praha in round three.
© Reuters
Meanwhile, despite still being firmly in the contest, FCSB will likely be a little disappointed not to have secured a victory in their home leg of this encounter in Romania last week.
They were by far the more attacking side across the 90, registering a total of 16 shots at goal compared to their opponents' seven, but only one of their six on target managed to find the back of the net.
That goal came in the 75th minute from the boot of Joyskim Dawa four minutes after they had fallen behind to a Dan Biton opener, keeping them in the tie heading into the second leg.
FCSB's season has been well underway for a few weeks now, during which they were involved in the first round of qualifying as well, and picked up a resounding 11-1 aggregate victory over Sammarinese outfit Virtus.
However, after losing 2-0 to Otelul in Liga I over the weekend, Elias Charalambous's side are now winless in their last three matches and have won just one of their last six games in all competitions.
Team News
© Reuters
Maccabi Tel Aviv are without the services of Osher Davida, Elad Madmon, Roy Revivo, Dor Turgeman and Ido Shahar, all of whom are currently away with the national team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The only injury absentee for Lazetic to contend with at present is that of goalkeeper Or Yitzhak, who underwent surgery in the offseason and is likely to spend a fair chunk of the season sidelined.
FCSB, on the other hand, are down two players due to injury with Alexandru Pantea out with a ligament tear and Octavian Popescu on his road to recovering from undergoing foot surgery.
Charalambous made wholeseale changes to the squad he sent out at the weekend and is likely to bring the likes of Daniel Popa, Marius Stefanescu, Darius Olaru and Alexandru Baluta back into the starting lineup for this match.
Maccabi Tel Aviv possible starting lineup:
Mishpati; Shlomo, Nachmias, Asante, Cohen, Davidzada; Peretz, van Overeem, Kanichowsky; Zahavi, Addo
FCSB possible starting lineup:
Tarnovanu; Cretu, Dawa, Ngezana, Radunovic; Sut, Lixandru; Baluta, Olaru, Stefanescu; Popa
We say: Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1 FCSB
FCSB passed up several opportunities to secure a lead coming into this second leg and now face a significant challenge, having to win away from home, albeit at a neutral venue.
Maccabi Tel Aviv would undoubtedly been the happier of the sides with last week's stalemate and we feel they will be able to secure their spot in the next round with a victory in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
