Soccer / Europa League / Hapoel touches down in Vienna for rematch

Hapoel Tel Aviv landed in the Austrian capital on Tuesday to train for tonight's Europa League group stage match against Rapid Vienna.

The visitors can expect a completely different experience from the teams' first match-up, held October 22 at Tel Aviv's Bloomfield Stadium. The home side dominated that encounter, pushing in goal after goal for a final score of 5-1.

Close to 50,000 fans are expected tonight at Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium, and Rapid supporters are widely considered the loudest and wildest in Austria. The forecast of freezing-cold temperatures and possibly snow will further complicate Hapoel's task.

"We can't wait for the second match, we're already itching to return the five goals we absorbed in Tel Aviv," said Vienna left back Markus Katzer yesterday.

One key factor in ensuring a repeat win for Hapoel is Itay Shechter. The striker is hardly bashful, teammates say, and has a tagline he likes to bring up in the locker room before a big match: "Pass me the ball and run toward the fans. I'll make sure to put it in the net."

Rapid is riding a five-match win streak at Ernst Happel, the largest stadium in Austria (their own home pitch is Gerhard Hanappi, in the suburb of Hutteldorf). Defender Hannes Erder is injured and will not play, and midfielder Markus Heikkenen may be benched as well.

Pack leader Hamburg hosts Celtic in tonight's other Group C match-up. With just a single point, the Scots can still (theoretically) keep their shot of advancing alive with a win.

But despite the German side's spate of injuries - particularly strikers Paolo Guerrero and Mladen Petric - it remains the clear favorite.

Both German and British police have warned visiting Celtic fans against engaging in any acts of hooliganism.