Maccabi Tel Aviv and CFR Cluj Battle To Advance In Champions League Play

A tough second leg is almost certain for Maccabi Tel Aviv and CFR Cluj as the play on Tuesday at Netanya Stadium in Tel Aviv. Cluj took a hard fought 1-0 win at home in the first leg in Romania last week which gives them only a minimal margin for error heading into this fixture. The winner of this round faces another tough test as they’re all but certain to face Scottish Premier League side Celtic in the third round. Celtic ripped Estonian League entrant Nomme Kalju in the first leg of their second round matchup and now hold a 5-0 advantage on the aggregate. For the loser of this round it’ll be off to the Europa League Qualifications.

Maccabi Tel Aviv is back on top of Israel’s Premier League (Ligat ha’Al) for the first time in several years. After running off three straight titles between 2013 and 2015 they were only the runner up in 2016, 2017 and 2018 as Hapoel Be’er Sheva FC went on a dominant run. Last season, however, Hapoel Be’er Sheva FC was down to #4 as Maccabi Tel Aviv dominated league play winning by 22 points over second place Maccabi Haifa. Like many of the European leagues, Maccabi Tel Aviv will begin league play in mid-August.

Scheduling could be significant in this matchup–while the Israeli Premier League won’t begin for several more weeks Romania’s Liga 1 is already three weeks into their schedule. This could mean that Cluj’s fitness is already in ‘game shape’ while Maccabi Tel Aviv is still working toward that point. At the very least, there’s a certain degree of finesse that comes with actually playing competitive games that Maccabi Tel Aviv could lack at this state of the year. Maccabi Tel Aviv did have the advantage of a full week of uninterupted preparation while Cluj was playing this weekend. That being said, there’s no way that training will ever replace competitive football at honing the competitive edge.

Maccabi Tel Aviv have 11 wins in their last 12 European tournament qualifiers while Cluj have won only 1 of their last 4 away fixtures. The Champions League soccer odds have the home team installed as a slight favorite. Getting the 1/2 with Cluj is tempting but we’re going to hope that the Israeli team’s fitness is adequate Maccabi Tel Aviv to win a defensive battle. Their success will likely be short lived, however, as we expect Celtic to dominated whichever of these teams advances to the next round.

BET MACCABI TEL AVIV -1/2 -106 OVER FC CLUJ
BET MACCABI TEL AVIV/FC CLUJ UNDER 2 +100

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