Maccabi Tel-Aviv v Astana background

Maccabi Tel-Aviv will be looking to turn the tables on Astana in Netanya after the Kazakh champions stretched their unbeaten European home run to 17 games with a 4-0 victory against the Israeli side on matchday three.

• Astana are in third place in UEFA Europa League Group A on four points, three above a Maccabi team still seeking their first win.

Previous meetings
• The encounter at the Astana Arena on 19 October was the first time the two clubs had met. Two goals apiece from African strikers Patrick Twumasi and Junior Kabananga decided the outcome in the hosts' favour.

• It was Astana's biggest win in European competition and Maccabi's joint-heaviest defeat.

• Maccabi had won their only previous tie against Kazakh opposition, drawing 1-1 away and winning 2-1 at home to Kairat Almaty in last season's UEFA Europa League second qualifying round.

• Astana's only tie against an Israeli side prior to matchday three had come in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round, when they eliminated Maccabi's neighbours Hapoel Tel-Aviv – winning 3-0 at home and losing 1-0 in the return leg staged in Larnaca, Cyprus.

Form guide
• Maccabi are unbeaten in seven European home matches (W4 D3) since losing 4-3 to Zenit in their opening UEFA Europa League group stage home fixture of 2016/17 – a game in which they were 3-0 up with 13 minutes remaining.

• Astana have won just one of their last 17 European away matches (W1 D5 L11), triumphing 1-0 in Latvia at Spartaks Jūrmala in this season's UEFA Champions League second qualifying round.

• Maccabi have progressed from the first qualifying round to the UEFA Europa League group stage for a second straight campaign. They were league and cup runners-up in Israel last term.

• Beaten by Celtic in the UEFA Champions League play-offs, Astana are playing group stage football for a third successive season: UEFA Champions League in 2015/16, and UEFA Europa League in 2016/17 and 2017/18.

• Maccabi are competing in their fourth UEFA Europa League group stage. Only once previously, in 2013/14, did they qualify for the round of 32.

• Astana finished bottom of their section, with five points, in last season's UEFA Europa League – their only previous group stage participation.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Astana to Netanya, where Maccabi are playing their home fixtures, is around 3,700km.

• International team-mates:
Yegor Filipenko (Maccabi) and Igor Shitov, Ivan Maevski (Astana) – Belarus
Tino-Sven Sušić (Maccabi) and Marin Aničić, Srdjan Grahovac (Astana) – Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Suspended from next match if booked: Nick Blackman (Maccabi); Serikzhan Muzhikov (Astana).

The coaches
• Hired in June 2014, Stanimir Stoilov has led Astana to three successive Kazakh titles. The former Bulgaria player and coach enjoyed his most fruitful years as a player at Levski Sofia, whom he later guided to two championships – and the 2005/06 UEFA Cup quarter-finals.

• Jordi Cruyff took over as Maccabi boss in 2017 after five years as the club's sporting director. The son of Dutch great Johan Cruyff, he played for Barcelona and Manchester United and reached the 2001 UEFA Cup final with Alavés. He also represented the Netherlands at EURO '96.