Maccabi defeated Bnei Yehuda 2:1 and finished the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika regular season undefeated. This is the first time in 16 seasons since the institution of the playoff system that a team hasn’t lost a match in the regular season.
There has never been a time where the first place club has begun the Playoffs or third round with a 22 point lead – An all-time record. The previous record was held by Maccabi Haifa when they entered the third round of the 2004/05 season with an 18 point lead.
After 26 matches the Yellow & Blue under Vladimir Ivic have 20 wins and 66 points which equals the point total of Paulo Sousa during the 2013/14 campaign.
However, the record and goal differential was a bit different. You can see that in the table below:
Rajkovic and the defense set more records
Maccabi may have conceded a goal against Bnei Yehuda, but over the 26 regular season contests they have never given up more than one goal.
In fact, the club set a record for the least amount of goals given up as of Matchday 26 with only 12. The previous record was 14 goals after 26 matches in 1973/74 when Lufa Kadosh z”l was the first choice keeper.
The goal differential in home matches stands at 33:4 with 11 wins and 2 draws in 13 contests.
In addition, all of those goals allowed came off a set piece (Sagas Tambi of Bnei Yehuda after a missed penalty, Gabriel Tamas from Hapoel Haifa after a corner kick, Nico Olsak of Maccabi Netanya direct free kick and an own goal by Sheran Yeini in a 4:1 win over Hapoel Raanana).
Predrag Rajkovic stopped his second penalty of the season versus Bnei Yehuda, the first came against Beitar Jerusalem in the State Cup.
Atar sits atop the league’s goal scoring leader list
Eliran Atar who scored his 12th league goal against Bnei Yehuda puts him all alone atop the league’s goal scoring leader list, one ahead of Fatos Beciraj of Maccabi Netanya.
#16 also knows how to help out his teammates and recorded his third assist of the season when he found Avi Rikan in the box who scored the match winner.
Rikan’s goal scoring prowess
Avi Rikan was given a place in the Starting XI by Head Coach Vladimir Ivic and he paid him back by scoring his 5th goal of the season which was the eventual winner. He scored with his right foot which is his weaker foot.
Rikan is just one goal away from matching his output from last season (6 goals) which was his best at Maccabi.
Interestingly enough the 5 goals have come in 659 minutes which converts to one goal in every 131 minutes on the pitch.
Last season when he scored 6 goals, he did so in 1961 minutes throughout the campaign.
