Maccabi Tel Aviv’s European journey takes another step on Wednesday (20:00) when Robbie Keane’s charges travel to Cyprus and face local side AEK Larnaca for the first leg of the Conference League 3rd qualifying round. Shortly before the two-legged tie gets underway the time has come to learn about our opponents.
Last season’s achievement: Conference Leaguer Round of 16
Larnaca reached the Conference League qualifying rounds after finishing last season in third spot of the Cypriot league, eight points adrift of Champions Aris Limassol. This season the beat Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino of Belarus in the second qualifying round with a 4-3 aggregate victory.
Last season, Larnaca enjoyed a successful European campaign which began with an elimination in the Champions League 2nd qualifying round, but continued by finishing 3rd in the Europa League group stage ahead of Dynamo Kiev. Larnaca advanced to the Conference League knockout phase where they saw off another Ukrainian opposition SC Dnipro-1 before being eliminated at the Round of 16 by Premiership outfit West Ham United that ultimately won the competition.
AEK Larnaca vs West Ham United. Photo: AEK Larnaca Facebook ()
Larnaca will host Maccabi on Wednesday at their 8000-capacity stadium, AEK Arena – Georgios Karapatakis which was completed in 2016 that also hosts the Cypriot national team matches.
The Spanish contingent
AEK has a strong Spanish influence as they are coached by Jose Luis Oltra as the 54-year-old Spaniard was appointed in June 2022 and begins his second season in charge. Larnaca are Oltra’s first club outside Spain after 20 years of coaching amongst other clubs at Levante, Tenerife, Almeria, Deportivo La Coruna, Mallorca, Recreativo, Granada and Racing Santander.
AEK tend to change their formation under Oltra pending on the identity of their formation yet by looking into the majority of matches last season the Cypriots mostly played 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3.
In other matches including the tie against Torpedo Zhodino in the previous round, Larnaca fielded two strikers, two wingers and two holding midfielders.
Photo: AEK Larnaca Facebook ()
Just like many Cypriot sides, Larnaca’s squad has many foreign players edging the local players to the substitutes bench. The return leg against Zhodino, AEK named no less 11 foreign players in its’ starting line-up, with 2 Cypriots starting in the first leg. Larnaca have 5 Spanish players in the squad, ands 3 Portuguese players, 2 Bosnians and their captain is 36-year-old Macedonian forward Ivan Trichkovsdki who has been at the club since 2016. Trichkovski was Larnaca’s top goal-scorer last season with 11 goals, while Omri Altman, who rejoined Hapoel Tel Aviv, was their second top scorer with 8 league goals to his name.
Oltra opted this season to name a striking partnership of 31-year-old Spanish striker Fran Sol and Portuguese forward Rafael Lopes (32). Sol was bought by Dynamo Kiev in 2019 after a successful spell at Dutch side Willem II but spent most of his time on loan in Spain at Tenerife, Aibar and Malaga.
At the back Larnaca are not short of experience as former Fiorentina veteran Serbian central defender Nenad Tomovic and former Atletic Bilbau keeper Iago Herrerin yet in the last two matches Cypriot keeper Ioakeim Toumbas and Kenan Piric of Bosnia started in goal.
Photo: AEK Larnaca Facebook ()
