With a 0-0 draw from the first leg in Montenegro, the tie will be decided at Bloomfield stadium as Maccabi Tel Aviv host Sutjeska of Montenegro for the Conference League 2nd qualifying round (20:30).
Maccabi’s plans received a twist in Podgorica last week following the dismissal of Eden Karzev for two bookable offences which left the side with 10 men for the majority of the second half. Despite the numerical disadvantage, Patrick van Leeuwen’s side managed to keep a clean sheet and will try complete the job in front of the home fans.
This will be the first European match Bloomfield will stage with fans since the Champions League Playoff 1-1 draw against Basel that secured qualification to the group stage back in 2015/16. With Maccabi hosting the Champions League group stage at Sammy Ofer, the refurbishment at Bloomfield that led to Maccabi relocating for three years to Netanya, and COVID keeping out fans last season – the Jaffa stadium will welcome fans for a European night after 2,165 days.
Some numbers:
Maccabi finished their first leg of a European tie with a draw away from home on 7 occasions.
The first time resulted with a painful Champions League Playoff 1-0 defeat to Grasshoppers Zurich at Bloomfield in the 1995/96 season, after the first leg in Switzerland ended in a 1-1 draw.
Since that tie, Maccabi advanced through in all of its’ 6 home legs that followed draws away from home: Dynamo Zagreb (2001/02), HJK Helsinki (2004/05), FC Basel (2015/16), Kairat Almaty (2016/17), Ferencvaros and Pyunik Yerevan (2018/19).
In 12 of the 21 seasons Maccabi played European qualifiers in July – they were never knocked out during that month.
