Maccabi Tel Aviv and Riga meet at Bloomfield Stadium, in a match for this phase of the UEFA Champions League (1st Qualifying Round). This will be the first direct confrontation between these two teams, as they have never met before. Riga has considerable differences in their results at home and away, so in this match the home factor may be decisive.
Maccabi Tel Aviv :
The home team plays its first game in this edition of the UEFA Champions League with the intention of taking advantage of the home factor to achieve a positive result. This is a team little affected by the home factor, that is, it presents similar results at home and away, since in the last 30 games it has registered 10 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses as a visitor, with 27 goals scored and 10 suffered; against 11 victories and 4 draws in his stadium, with 29 goals scored and 3 suffered. The team comes to this match after a away loss against Hapoel Be’er Sheva by (2‑0). In the last 10 home matches for all competitions, Maccabi Tel Aviv won 8 and tied 2. The defense has been strong and only conceded goals in 2 of the last 10 matches, and their attack has scored regularly, as scored goals in 8 of the last 10 games. The team does not usually have problems opening the scoring: they scored the first goal in 13 of the last 15 games, of these 13 they reached the break with an advantage in 8 and managed to maintain the advantage until the end of the 90 ‘in 11.
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s team comes to this match unmotivated, as a result of a 2-0 loss at the visit to Hapoel Sheva, ending five consecutive victories in the Israeli league. Notably, the locals won the 2019/2020 Israel Championship. In this match against Riga, the new coach Georgios Donis must play 4-3-3, favoring ball possession and organized attacks. It should be noted that one of the strengths of this formation is undoubtedly the counterattack: Omer Atazili is the main sprinter of this team. All players are available for this game.
Riga :
The visiting team plays its first match in this edition of the UEFA Champions League with the intention of achieving a positive result as a visitor. This is a stronger team with the support of its fans, since in the last 30 games it has registered 8 victories, 3 draws and 4 losses as a visitor, with 27 goals scored and 18 suffered; against 13 victories and 2 draws in his stadium, with 35 goals scored and 5 suffered. In their last match, for the Virsliga, they beat BFC Daugavpils away by (0‑1). In their last 10 away matches Riga has recorded 6 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. His attack has scored regularly, as he has always scored at least one goal in the last 10 games. In their home matches there is a tendency for goals, as 11 of the last 16 matches have ended with Over 2,5 goals. This is a team that tends to score many times first: they opened the scoring in 12 of their last 14 games, of these 12 they reached the break with an advantage in 8 and always managed to maintain the advantage until the end of the 90 ‘.
Riga comes to this match motivated, as a result of a 0x1 victory on the trip to Daugavplis, thus adding the twelfth consecutive victory in the Latvian championship: Pedrinho scored the only goal of the team. In this match against Maccabi Tel Aviv, coach Oleg Kononov must opt for a more defensive strategy, with a medium or low block, exploring only the space in the opponent’s back. Pedrinho is one of the fastest players and with the highest technical quality of this team, being the main responsible for the creation of the offensive process. All players are available for this game.
PREDICTION: Maccabi Tel Aviv (Isr) to win @ 1,35
