Maccabi Haifa will face Gent at the Bozsik Stadion on Thursday in the first leg of their 2023-24 UEFA Europa Conference League playoff round.
The Greens are enjoying a good run of form in the Israeli top-flight at the moment but will turn their attention to European football on Thursday. They struggled to impress in the Europa League group stages earlier in the season, winning just one of their six group games as they finished third in the table.
Maccabi Haifa last appeared in the last 16 of a European showpiece back in the 2006-07 campaign and will hope they can make their return this year.
Gent, on the other hand, have endured a difficult run of form in the Jupiler Pro League in recent weeks and will hope they can find better luck elsewhere. They performed brilliantly well in the group stages of the Conference League and had looked set to finish as group leaders before suffering a 3-1 defeat to Maccabi Tel Aviv in their final group game.
The Belgian outfit faced Qarabag at this stage of the competition last season, winning on penalties and will be targeting victory here as well.
Maccabi Haifa vs Gent Head-to-Head and Key Numbers
- Thursday’s game will mark the first-ever meeting between Maccabi Haifa and Gent.
- The Greens have had just two meetings against Belgian opposition in European competitions, winning one of those and losing the other.
- The Buffalos have a similar record against Israeli opposition, winning one and losing one of their two competitive matchups against them.
- Four of Gent’s six league defeats this season have come on the road.
- Maccabi Haifa are the highest-scoring side in the Israeli Premier League this season with a goal tally of 47.
- The Belgian outfit have scored 16 goals in the Conference League so far. Only Nordsjælland (17) have scored more.
Maccabi Haifa vs Gent Prediction
Maccabi Haifa are on a run of back-to-back victories and have now won eight of their last 10 games across all competitions.
Gent, meanwhile, are on a three-game losing streak and are without a win in their last six competitive outings across all competitions. They have lost four of their last five away matches and could see defeat here as well.
Prediction: Maccabi Haifa 2-1 Gent
Maccabi Haifa vs Gent Betting Tips
Tip 1 – Result: Maccabi Haifa to win
Tip 2 – Goals – Over/under 2.5 – Over 2.5 goals (Five of the hosts’ last eight matches have produced more than 2.5 goals)
Tip 3 – Both teams to score: YES (Both sides have found the back of the net in four of the visitors’ last five matches)
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