Hapoel Beer Sheva returns to the European stage and will start its journey tomorrow in an away match against Austria Vienna (Thursday, 19:45, Sport4), while Villarreal will host Lech Poznan in the corresponding match at home.
Hapoel Beer Sheva has already arrived in Austria and this evening will hold the final training session, at the end of which it will be clear if Halder Lopes is fit for the meeting after he was injured on Saturday against Maccabi Haifa and is still suffering from pain. Miguel Vitor will also take a fitness test to make sure he can start in the lineup. Hatem Alhamid did not go with the team to Austria for personal reasons and will be absent, and Tomer Yousfi also remains in question, but Aden Shamir is expected to come off the bench for the first few minutes.
The one that has already finished its preparations for the meeting is Austria Vienna. The team held the final practice and coach Manfred Schmid held the press conference in which he said about the cup holders in Israel: “We need to start the group stage well, the first two rounds may decide if we can compete for second place at home. Hapoel Beer Sheva is an extremely aggressive team, but We’ll fight back. It’s going to be a tough game.”
Defense player Reinhold Renftel was also asked about the aggressive play by Hapoel Beer Sheva and replied: “We can provoke each other, tempt them and use it wisely. We have a big challenge ahead of us and I think we can move up a level, that’s the goal.” It should be noted that after seven rounds in the league, Austria Vienna with only two wins, ranks ninth with six points.
Estimated line-up: Christian Fruchtl, Reinhold Renftel, Lucas Moll, Lucas Galbau, Marvin Martins, Matthias Braunoder, James Holland, Andreas Gruber, Dominic Fitz, Manfred Fischer, Haris Tabakovic.