Summary: Gent - Maccabi Haifa 1:1/Sport1
Maccabi Haifa will host Fiorentina on Thursday in Budapest in front of a crowd in the first meeting of the round of 16 of the Conference League, but that may not be the case in the second leg in Florence.
According to the report this morning (Friday) in Italy, the local authorities have not yet made decisions regarding the return match to be held on March 14 and there is the possibility that, as in the meeting between Ghent and Maccabi Haifa in Belgium, it will be another match that will be held without an audience.
In Italy, it is reported that "no more than hundreds of Fiorentina fans" will make the way to Budapest for the first match, but at the same time there was concern that they would have to host Maccabi Haifa without the presence of fans and they clarify that this is the reason why the sale of tickets for the second leg in Florence has not yet opened.
This is a decision that the local authorities are expected to make and does not concern UEFA, Fiorentina or Maccabi Haifa at all - just for comparison, on Thursday Olympiakos will host Maccabi Tel Aviv in the presence of fans, including over a thousand yellow-blue fans who will come to Greece.
Will they be able to make it to the match in Florence?
Maccabi Haifa fans/Maor Alxalsi
Last month, Ghent had to host Maccabi Haifa without an audience at the behest of the mayor and the local authorities, who claimed that there was a danger to the game and public peace and made a decision that the game would take place behind closed doors - at the end of the game, Maccabi Haifa salvaged an expensive draw that moved them up a stage.
Now Florence is also considering the possibility of hosting the game behind closed doors due to the fear of pro-Palestinian demonstrations that could endanger public peace and possibly the holding of the game as feared in Ghent, but a decision has not yet been made and it must be clarified that at this stage this is only a preliminary report.
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Maccabi Haifa
Fiorentina