Rennes vs Maccabi Haifa prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2023-09-20 16:45.
After finishing fourth in Ligue 1 last season, Rennes return to the UEFA Europa League (UEL) in 2023/24, a competition they’ve found difficult to succeed in over the past few seasons. A penalty shootout defeat to Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk in the knockout round play-off last campaign ended their participation in the competition, though it at least offered improvement on their prior UEL campaign in 2019/20, which ended in a group stage exit after securing just one win in six outings (D1, L4).
With sizeable transfer investment over recent summers, nothing less than a top-two finish will do this time in Group F for Bruno Génésio’s side. They enter unbeaten so far in the French top-flight which offers a boost (W1, D4) but with each of their last four outings resulting in stalemate, it’s obvious that the hosts continue to lack firepower following the departure of starman Jérémy Doku to Manchester City.
Defending Israeli Premier League Maccabi Haifa champions will be happy to finally be back in the UEL group stages after last reaching them a decade ago back in 2013/14. They made their way here after falling to Young Boys 3-0 on aggregate in the final stage of Champions League qualifying, a result which has evidently dented confidence given their subsequent slow league start (W1, L1).
It’s no wonder why the bookmakers have made them substantial underdogs for this tie then, especially as they’ve not won any of their previous six away UEL outings (D1, L5). Only Slovan Bratislava have ever played more times away from home in the competition without victory (9), a record the Greens will be desperate not to break, but their recent record against French opposition (W1, L5) suggests that it could at least be extended here.
Players to watch: Rennes’ Ibrahim Salah has netted three league goals this campaign with each coming after the 85th minute, while Maccabi Haifa’s Lior Refaelov will look to extend his fine UEL form as he has 20 direct goal contributions (G12, A8) across his last 21 competition appearances!
Hot stat: Rennes have scored in 11 of their last 12 UEL home fixtures.