Zenit v Maccabi Tel-Aviv background
Monday, November 7, 2016
Article summary
Zenit pulled off one of the great comebacks in UEFA competition history when they visited Maccabi Tel-Aviv in September – one which the Israeli side could do with avenging.
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Zenit's place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 as group winners is already confirmed, but Maccabi Tel-Aviv's is very much in the balance as they head for Russia looking to forget about the teams' first encounter in Group D.
• Dundalk and Maccabi play on matchday six so neither side can go through or out before that.
• AZ Alkmaar are out if they lose, or if they draw and Maccabi avoid defeat at Dundalk; Zenit have won the group.
Previous meetings
• On matchday one, Maccabi led 3-0 in Tel-Aviv only to concede four goals between the 77th minute and the final whistle.
Form guide
• Zenit, Schalke and Shakhtar Donetsk are the only sides who have won all four of their group games. Shakhtar and Zenit are the top scorers this season with 13 goals: an average of 3.25 per match.
• Maccabi have taken four points from their last two fixtures after starting their Group D campaign with two defeats.
• UEFA Cup winners in 2008, Zenit have progressed in three of their four previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns. In 2010/11 they won all six group games and remain on target to do so again in 2016/17.
• Maccabi and Gabala are the only teams who have made it from the first qualifying round to the group stage in the current UEFA Europa League.
• Maccabi have qualified for the round of 32 in one of their two previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns, in 2013/14.
Links and trivia
• The journey from Tel Aviv to St Petersburg is around 3,100km.
• Zenit's Giuliano and Athletic's Aritz Aduriz are this season's group stage top scorers with five goals each.
• Maccabi Tel-Aviv midfielder Gal Alberman is one game shy of 50 UEFA club competition appearances.
The coaches
• Mircea Lucescu took charge of Zenit this summer, the Romanian ending a 12-year spell at Shakhtar in which he picked up eight Ukrainian titles and the 2008/09 UEFA Cup. He previously won Turkish championships with Beşiktaş and Galatasaray.
• Lucescu is the most experienced coach in the 2016/17 competition; this will be his 219th UEFA club competition match.
• Maccabi's Georgian coach Shota Arveladze scored an impressive 32 goals in 64 UEFA club competition games as a player, lifting league titles with Ajax, Rangers and Trabzonspor. He is in his first term in Israel having spent the last five years coaching in Turkey.
