08/29/2023 09:22
reading time: 3 minute
There will be three spots available to compete in the BL group stage on Tuesday evening. We’re reporting today in the usual way, with a presentation programme, one live match on our channels and, due to the lack of matches, ‘only’ a half-hour summary, which we hope will give a complete picture.
Last time, two weeks ago, Galatasaray could celebrate promotion at Olimpija Ljubljana in Ali Sami Yen. If Cim-Bom-Bom succeeds on Tuesday night, he could reach the BL’s group stage for the 17th time (Picture: Getty Images)
Galatasaray – birthplace
The teams had one of the best matches of the play-off round on Wednesday in Molde. Although Galata managed to win 3-2, the picture of the match showed a struggle of equal forces, so the Turkish champions cannot be sure of the presence of Ali Sami Yen at all.
The statement of the coaches of the two teams reflects well what happened.
“We were lucky today. We didn’t play well, but we scored three goals and we have the advantage. I must say that Molde played very well today,” said Okan Boruc, 56-time World Cup bronze medalist and Galata coach.
“I expect us to go to Istanbul and make it exciting going forward. We’re good with the ball, we create situations. But we have to defend flawlessly,” the Norwegian champions’ master, Erling Mo, looked forward.
Galata postponed his “small match” scheduled for Saturday against Istanbulspor, which also shows that he is not at all confident in his work despite the narrow advantage. Yet the figures of the past support Cim-Bom-Bom. The domestic success in the third qualifying round against Slovenia’s Olimpija was the 14th time they qualified in the second leg from a one-on-one duel, after having the advantage in the first meeting. In addition, in their last 8 European Cup matches on home soil, they have only lost to Barcelona two seasons ago, and since then they have drawn 2 at home as well as 5 wins.
Molde didn’t play on the weekend either. The federation announced a strange schedule: the first four matches of Round 20 were played, while the other four meetings would only take place at the end of September or the beginning of October, primarily due to the team’s international cup commitments. The team has lost five of its last six cup matches while falling behind in the first meeting. (The exception was last season’s Conference League play-off against Wolfsburg, when they managed a 4-0 win in Austria after a 1-0 home defeat.)
The match has a prestigious referee and is run by a Polish team of referees, led by Simon Marciniak, who also officiated the last English Premier League final.
Young Boys – Maccabi Haifa
In contrast to the match in Molde, the champions of Israel and Switzerland played one of the quietest games of the tour in Haifa, which I think was reflected in the negative result.
“We have reached the halfway point, and the result is zero, zero. And so we are approaching the second station, which we will approach as much as the first. This is a big opportunity, a great opportunity to achieve something, to achieve one of my dreams. This dream is not only my dream, but also the dream of all the team members We will do everything we can to reach the group stage,” YB master Rafael Wiki said in his pre-match statement.
As a matter of fact, the Black and Yellows remained scoreless at home in the previous play-off, in last year’s Conference League, where they lost 1-0 to Anderlecht, although they won by the same amount in the second leg, losing the round 11 game in Brussels. This is their fifth European Cup play-off. They’ve won three of them, including beating Individuals the year before last, twice by scores of 3-2. (Overall: Wankdorf, the Bernese stadium, is a very unlucky place for Hungarian teams: not only did Puskas lose the World Cup final here to the Germans 3:2, Barcelona also lost, with three Hungarians, the European Championship final against Benfica in 1961 , but MTK won 4:1 in BEK in 1958, DVSC won by the same amount in UEFA Cup qualifiers in 2008, and Debrecen won again in the 2014 play-off with a score of 3-1 at the same venue ahead of Fradi. The only Hungarian trophy that managed to equalize on the ill-fated pitch was Vasas, who in 1957 won 2:1 in Neipstadion after a 1:1 draw in Bern, and before that now against then Swiss champions YB, finally going all the way to semi-finals.)
Bern will play its scheduled match against Stade Lausanne-Ouchy (not to be confused with the famous Lausanne Sports) on December 6, which has been postponed like other Premier League matches.
Maccabi didn’t play their league opener against Hapoel Petah-Tikva either, so they’ve only played their International Cup battles as a stakes match so far this season. The Israeli national team managed to win two of its five matches in the knockout system, the first of which ended in a draw at home. Last year, in the second qualifying round, they played 1-1 against Olympiacos in Haifa, but managed to win 4-0 in Piraeus. However, after a 0-0 home draw, he played only once in the second leg, in the 2007 UEFA Cup Round of 16, when they lost 4-0 to Spanish champions Espanyol in Barcelona.
After a potential 120-minute draw, an 11-man battle may occur. The Young Boys have played three opening matches so far, winning two of them and failing in the already mentioned match last year in Brussels. Maccabi lost the previous 11 matches against Italy’s Parma (1993, KEK), Romania’s Gloria Bistrita (1997, Intertoto Cup), Belgium’s Genk (2011, Premier League play-off) and finally Estonian Nomi Kalgo (2016, qualifiers) against.
UEFA Champions League, restart. Sport1 7:45 p.m. Matchday prelude (Host: Andras Petur, Experts: Ksaba Laszlo and Peter Farheide); Sport 1 20:45 Galatasaray – FK Molde (Commentator: Richard Farago, Host: Andras Petur, Experts: Ksaba Laszlo and Peter Farheide); Sport 2 20:45 PSG Young Boys – Maccabi Haifa (Commentator: Gabor Mihis); Sport1 23:00 Summary of today’s match (Host: Andras Petur, Experts: Ksaba Laszlo and Peter Farheide)
