Beitar Jerusalem flew out to Romania to complete their preparations for Thursday's Conference League third qualifying round tie against Austria Wien, a fixture the club itself is treating with far more caution than the casual assumption back home that this is a routine step for a team with continental pedigree of its own.
According to ONE, Beitar moved up their departure time in order to fit in an extra training session on Romanian soil before their final work-out ahead of kick-off, wary of arriving undercooked for what the club has called one of the season's most important opening assignments.
The message from within the camp, relayed by ONE, was blunt: "Austria Wien is much better than people in Israel think. We expect a difficult match ahead of us." It is a deliberate attempt to manage expectations around a club that has won the Austrian title 24 times and lifted the domestic cup on 27 occasions, making it one of the most decorated names in Austrian football.
The first leg, on August 6, will not actually be played in Vienna or Jerusalem but on neutral ground in Ploiești, Romania — hence Beitar's choice to base their final preparations in the country. The return leg follows a week later, on August 13, at Austria Wien's Franz-Horr-Stadion, known commercially as the Generali Arena.
Both clubs arrive on the back of contrasting routes through the qualifying rounds. Beitar needed a penalty shootout to see off Cypriot side AEK Larnaca in the previous round, while Austria Wien advanced far more comfortably, beating Latvia's FK Liepāja 5-1 on aggregate. It will be Beitar's first competitive meeting with an Austrian club in a UEFA tournament.
There was better news on the injury front. Georgian centre-back Luka Gadrani and Israeli midfielder Tomer Yosefi have both recovered from their respective knocks and travelled with the squad, giving head coach Almog Cohen extra options he did not have in the closing weeks of preparation.
Cohen, who moved from Beitar's sporting director's office into the head coach's role for the 2026/27 season, is expected to finalise his starting eleven only after Wednesday's last training session in Romania, with the make-up of the attacking positions understood to be the main outstanding decision.
For a club still building trust in a first-year coach, a credible showing against one of Austria's traditional powers would carry weight well beyond the two legs themselves — beginning with a tie the players themselves are refusing to take lightly.
