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Jose Mourinho’s insane September in three competitions continues with a Thursday’s Tottenham-Maccabi Haifa fixture in the Europa League, the final playoff match coming exactly three weeks before the first matchday of the group stahe.

The visitors head into North London on a five-match unbeaten run and if they manage a show-stopping upset it will likely star an American.

California native Josh Cohen, 28, has started all five of those matches between the sticks for Maccabi Haifa. The ex-USL and UC San Diego goalkeeper has been with the club since leaving the Sacramento Republic in 2019.

[ MORE: Europa League scoreboard ]

Ukraine-born Australian striker Nikita Rukavytsya is the key man for Maccabi Haifa’s attack, boasting seven goals and three assists in five appearances this season.

Spurs should have a pretty strong group despite their fixture weariness as Harry Kane, Lucas Moura, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, and Matt Doherty started on the bench for Tuesday’s League Cup fourth-round win over Chelsea.

In other action, Steven Gerrard’s Rangers certainly would’ve loved to have drawn any number of opponents rather than Turkish powers Galatasaray.

While there’s been good humor online regarding Gerrard managing while former teammate Ryan Babel hits the pitch for Gala, the Turkish side arrives in Glasgow in a foul mood.

Here’s manager Faith Terim, who is upset that his side drew derby rivals Fenerbahce 0-0 at home.

“I will turn all my attention to Rangers now,” Terim said, via the Daily Record. “The Europa League is very important to us in many ways and of course, we will play our strongest team. At the moment, we are playing every three or four days and that can be a factor. But we just have to deal with it. It always hurts when you don’t win a derby game and we have a chance to put it right this week in Glasgow.”

Rangers are favorites in the match, which shows how far Gerrard has brought Scotland’s second-best side in points-per-game. Watch out for Babel, who’s scored six times in 25 matches for Gala after his 2018-19 star turn in Fulham’s relegation season.

Which brings us to Celtic, who is a point behind their eternal rivals but has a match-in-hand.

Neil Lennon’s men have disappointed in Europe this season and are heavy favorites going into Sarajevo, as they were when needed almost every minute to get past Riga 1-0 in Latvia last week after being bounced from the Champions League by Ferencvaros.

Elsewhere, AC Milan won’t have Zlatan Ibrahimovic when it visits Portugal’s Rio Ave.

How to watch Tottenham – Maccabi Haifa + Europa League playoff round streams, start times

When: Thursday

Online: Bleacher Report Live

Thursday’s Europa League playoff round ties

All times ET

Thursday

CFR Cluk v KuPS — 11:30 am ET

Malmo v Granada — 1 pm ET

Charleroi v Lech Poznan — 1 pm ET

Rosenborg v PSV Eindhoven — 1 pm ET

Dinamo Zagreb v Flora — 1 pm ET

Ararat-Armenia v Red Star Belgrade — 1 pm ET

Liberec v APOEL Nicosia — 1 pm ET

Hapo’el Beer-Sheva v Viktoria Plzen — 1:30 pm ET

Sarajevo v Celtic — 2pm ET

Standard Liege v Fehervar — 2pm ET

Dinamo Brest v Ludogorets Razgrad — 2pm ET

Copenhagen v Rijeka — 2pm ET

Legia Warsaw v Qarabag — 2pm ET

Dundalk v KI — 2:30 pm ET

Young Boys v Tirana — 2:30 pm ET

Basel v CSKA Sofia — 2:30 pm ET

AEK Athens v Wolfsburg — 2:45 pm ET

Rangers v Galatasaray — 2:45 pm ET

Rio Ave v AC Milan — 3 pm ET

Tottenham Hotspur v Maccabi Haifa — 3 pm ET

Sporting Lisbon v LASK — 3 pm ET

Select Europa League odds (full odds provided by our partner, PointsBet)

Sarajevo (+800) v Celtic (-358) | Draw (+400)

AEK Athens (+235) v Wolfsburg (-103) | Draw (+235)

Rangers (+108) v Galatasaray (+220) | Draw (+225)

Rio Ave (+300) v AC Milan (-125) | Draw (+240)

Tottenham Hotspur (-667) v Maccabi Haifa (+1200) | Draw (+550)

Sporting Lisbon (+115) v LASK (+215) | Draw (+215)

PointsBet is our Official Sports Betting Partner and we may receive compensation if you place a bet on PointsBet for the first time after clicking our links.

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