Hajduk Split vs Maccabi Tel Aviv Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

After three consecutive years of winning the Israeli Premier League since the 2012/2013 season, Maccabi Tel Aviv were knocked off their throne by Hapoel Be’er Sheva finishing as runners up in their 2015/2016 campaign. Their failure to hold onto the title for another year could be pinned on their focus towards the Champions League groups stage, the first time the side had made it through to this round in eleven years. Instead, the hosts started their season off this time around with the Europa League first qualifying round and have so far successfully battled their way through to the playoff stage. They saw off Gorica 4-0 on aggregate in the first, Kairat 3-2 on aggregate in the second and Pandurii Targu Jiu 5-2 on aggregate in the third qualifying rounds. Maccabi are certainly one of the stronger sides that began in the opening round and put in a dominating performance against the Croatians in the home leg.

Croatian side Hajduk Split started their Europa League campaign in the second qualifying round, thanks to their 3rd placed finish in the Croatian First League last season. The visitors have been just as efficient in seeing off weaker competition in the earlier rounds, defeating CSM Lasi 4-3 and Oleksandria 6-1 on aggregate so far. The Croatian domestic season is already well underway and Hadjuk Split started the season out perfectly with three wins from their first three. Their form has taken a turn for the worse over recent weeks, however, with only one point from their last three matches (D1 L2) seeing them slip down to 4th place overall.

Both sides are very experienced in European competition but Maccabi Tel Aviv are slight favourites heading into this, despite the long travelling distance for the second leg. The in-form Israelis are now eight consecutive matches unbeaten in the Europa League (W7 D1), with their performance in the first leg bound to give them some confidence – Maccabi registered seven shots on goal compared to Split’s two.

Hajduk Split have been knocked out in the playoff round in each of their last two Europa League efforts over the last two years, and they were knocked out in the third qualifying round the season before that. Simply put, Hadjuk Split struggle at exactly this point in the tournament, lacking the necessary talent to progress through to the group stages. Trailing 2-1 on aggregate in the second leg, the pressure is even greater on the hosts to perform here. While the visitors are a decent price to win the match in 90 minutes at 7/5, we feel that both teams to score is a safer bet for this fixture. Both teams have scored in four of Hadjuk Split’s last five (80%) and all five of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s last five (100%) Europa League matches, so the trends definitely favour this outcome. With everything also still to play for in this fixture, we predict that this match should play out in a similar fashion.

Considering the above, both teams to score at 4/5 and a 1-1 draw at 11/2 are our choice bets for this match.