Just a day after the first half of the second round of Europa League qualifying and as the Maccabi Tel Aviv players make their way back home, the UEFA offices in Nyon, Switzerland held the third round qualifying draw where Shota Arveladze and his squad found that they will play Romanian side Pandurii on July 28th and August 4th, should they advance.
Last night Maccabi and Kairat Almaty drew 1:1 in Kazakhstan and will look to move on in the competition next week at home on July 21st.
Shota Arveladze said : “Regardless of the draw against Panduri, we are still only at the half time stage of our tie against Kairat which are an extremely tough side. We are fully focused on Thursday’s return leg in Netanya as this is the only team which is on our mind”.
Know your opponent: Pandurii of Romania
The Romanian side may be familiar to some as they played a pair of games against Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2013/14. Pandurii finished last season in third place and play their home games at the 20,000 seat Municipal Stadium. In Europa League play, the Romanian outfit has made 12 appearances, winning 3, drawing 4 and losing 5 matches. Their best campaign in continental play happened to be the 2013/14 when they disposed of Hapoel Tel Aviv in the third round and defeated Braga in the playoffs with a 2:1 aggregate after two legs. However, they only picked up one point in group stage action.
