Strasbourg (AFP)

In favorable bidding after his victory (3-1) in the first leg against Maccabi Haifa, Strasbourg will try to clinch Thursday in Israel, in an atmosphere as hot as the Meinau, his ticket for the third round of preliminary Europa League .

"We're expecting a tough game, we do not have a margin against this team that showed that it was able to play, it took us against several times, it will be necessary to pay attention to that", AFP told Strasbourg coach Thierry Laurey.

Defender Kenny Lala is still injured (right adductor) but the Alsatian technician, who has retained a group of 21 players arrived Tuesday night in Israel, recovers his captain and Serbian international Stefan Mitrovic, suspended last Thursday in the first leg. Ibrahima Sissoko, who played Euro Espoirs in June with the French team and took over with the club on July 8, is also part of the trip.

With two goals in advance, the mattress seems comfortable but Strasbourg must not forget that he was in numerical superiority during all the second period when he took the ascendancy on Israelis who had opened the score in the first act ( 38th).

RC Strasbourg, who also conceded two poles to his opponent, however, made an interesting copy in the first leg of July 25, for a first outing with his two new recruits (Alexander Djiku and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde), quickly to the in the bath of the Meinau, and with key men of the workforce (Adrien Thomasson and Jonas Martin) already well sharpened.

"We showed that we were ready, we put the intensity and we got opportunities.We did a good job but we must not believe that we are qualified," tempers Jonas Martin, author third goal.

Concluded by Rennes and Saint-Etienne, qualified for the Europa League, the ex-Montpellier will once again be one of the key elements of Racing in Israel. The club also wants to retain its playmaker, who arrives at the end of the contract in June 2020: "Jonas Martin will be in Strasbourg this year.It is recorded, it is clear, sharp and precise. thus declared Laurey to AFP.

If he passes the obstacle Haifa, the RCSA will play next week against the winner of the opposition between the Bulgarians of Lokomotiv Plovdiv and the Slovaks of Spartak Trnava. Before a possible barrage, at the end of August, to finally get his ticket for the group phase of the Europa League.

© 2019 AFP