Red Star Belgrade vs Maccabi Haifa FC Prediction & Betting Tips - Champions League

Prediction published on 21/08/2022, 11:54  by Ioannis | Modified on 21/08/2022 at 11:55 in Champions League Predictions

In what has all the ingredients of a fierce showdown, Red Star Belgrade host Maccabi Haifa in their effort to overturn the 3-2 defeat that they suffered in the first leg. Red Star had no weekend game, as the Serbian league granted them more preparation time in light of their qualifier game. Overall though, they are in a good form. Their defeat against Haifa was the first after seven consecutive wins, managing to keep clean sheets in a staggering six of them. In the last UCL qualifying round, they had no issue eliminating Armenian side Pyunik, whom they beat 7-0 on the aggregate. Their real strength however, lies at the Rajtko Mitic stadium, which it would be no extreme to argue that it has been turned into a fortress. Red Star have not lost a competitive game there since a Europa League game against Midtjylland in November 2021, while they have won eleven of their last thirteen home games, keeping clean sheets in seven of them. 

Maccabi Haifa could very well be the surprise package of this year’s UCL qualifiers. After eliminating (and putting four past) both Greek champions Olympiacos and Cypriot champions Apollon Limassol, the Israeli Champions managed to get a crucial home win against Red Star, and will give their everything in Serbia to maintain that lead. Barak Bakhar’s team have not started their league duties yet, but have managed to find match fitness through the qualifiers. In their last two away legs, they resoundingly beat Olympiacos 4-0 and lost 2-0 to Apollon. They have thus lost three of their last four European away games, failing to score in two of those. When it comes to their away form in general, Maccabi Haifa have not fared that positively, losing five of their last seven away encounters and failing to score in four of those.