Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Nice

French side Nice take a trip to the Bloomfield Stadium to take on Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the first leg of their Europa Conference League playoff tie.

Maccabi Tel-Aviv’s hot pursuit of their second successive Europa Conference League group stage appearance has seen them leave Aris and Zira in their wake en route to reaching the playoff round. Except for Aris’ futile 2-1 second-leg home triumph in the previous qualifying round, the Israeli giants haven’t lost any of their three remaining qualifiers this term (W2, D1), keeping a clean sheet on each occasion. Though it may sound a bit unrealistic, Maccabi boast a positive all-time European record against French clubs (W3, D1, L2). That’s despite scoring and conceding precisely ten goals across those six match-ups. As far as hot stats are concerned, the ‘Yellows’ are unbeaten in their last seven competitive home games (W4, D3 – 90mins only).

In the meantime, led by new boss Lucien Favre, Nice have experienced a stuttering start to the new Ligue 1 season, racking up a pair of 1-1 draws against Strasbourg and Toulouse. Yet, bringing last season into the equation, ‘Les Aiglons’ are unbeaten in three consecutive competitive away matches (W2, D1) despite scoring precisely once in two of them. Nice failed to make their way out of last season’s Europa League group stages, suffering five defeats from five group outings (W1), including a 1-0 loss away to Maccabi’s fellow Israeli rivals Hapoel Be’er Sheva. To date, it remains their solitary visit to the Western Asia country.