MACCABI TEL AVIV v REYKJAVIK
Thursday 13th July 2017 – Kickoff: 1600hrs
Football – Europe – Europa League Betting Tips
Maccabi Tel Aviv progressed through to the second qualifying round of this season’s Europa League thanks to a comfortable 5-0 aggregate win over Albanian club Tirana, winning 2-0 at home and then followed up with a 3-0 win in the away leg.
Maccabi once again have home advantage in the first leg of this second round qualifier at their Winner Stadium against Icelandic outfit KR Reykjavik, and no doubt the hosts will be keen to get an early jump on their opponents here as they look to get a foothold into a third qualifying round berth.
The hosts possess a strong record at home in the Europa League as they’ve suffered just one defeat on home soil from their last 13 ties at this level, which was a loss to Russian side Zenit, but have chalked up 7 wins from their last 9.
Visitors KR Reykjavik are having a tough time of it in this season’s new Icelandic top flight Urvalsdeild season as they sit in a disappointing 8th place and already find themselves 10 points adrift of the top teams in the division.
Reykjavik had an impressive campaign last season which saw them finish in third spot which earned them a place in these Europa League qualifiers, but so far, their form on the domestic scene seems to have eluded them thus far.
Reykjavik progressed from the first qualifying round by beating Finnish side SJK 2-0 on aggregate, which they sealed in the second leg with a 2-0 win away from home. I fancy they’ll face much stiffer competition on the road in this clash though.
Pick: Maccabi Tel Aviv to win at H/T @ 1.60 Ladbrokes
