On Wednesday evening, Maccabi Haifa host Zeljeznicar, in the penultimate match from the first qualifying round of Europa League.
Both teams have vast experience in the early stages of European football’s secondary competition. However, they do not have great track records of making the group stages of the competition.
The home team exited the competition at the second qualifying round stage at the hands of French team Strasbourg last season. Despite the 4-3 aggregate defeat, the Israeli team have won three of their last four games in the Europa League. Maccabi have also scored at least two goals in all three of those recent European victories too.
The home team’s matches in this competition have not always been high-scoring of late, but both teams have scored in six of their last seven Europa League matches.
Maccabi Haifa have a decent recent home record in the Europa League, as they have lost just one of their last nine matches in the competition, having gone five home games unbeaten on home soil.
Zeljeznicar have made a good start to their domestic league campaign, as the Bosnian team are second of the Premijer Liga after five games.
They failed to qualify for the Europa League last season, but the previous season they suffered elimination in the second qualifying round against Apollon, suffering a 5-2 aggregate defeat.
Their previous record in the Europa League is not great either, as the visitors have won just two of their previous seven games in the competition. Zeljeznicar’s recent matches in the Europa League have been high-scoring, with two or more goals scored in their previous five matches.
The visitors do not have a great recent record on their travels of late in the Europa League, winning just one of their previous five away games in the competition.
Forebet predicts that Maccabi Haifa will continue their good recent home record in the Europa League by recording a victory in a high-scoring encounter.