Maccabi Tel Aviv registered yet another fine performance in the big city Derby against Hapoel on Monday registering a 3-0 win that ensures their top spot finish after two phases of the TASE Premier League and gives them a huge advantage in the playoff phase.
The match opened in front of over 26,000 fans at Bloomfield and was evenly balanced in the first 35 minutes, with neither side able to deliver a shot on target. But once Omer Atzili scored the opening goal, it was all one-way traffic for the hosts.
Atzili’s goal came from the first shot on target for Maccabi when his free kick from 20 metres directly in front of goal deflected off the Hapoel wall and ended up in the back of the Hapoel net with goalkeeper Yoav Gerafi left stranded.
But any hopes Hapoel had of holding their own were dealt a severe blow when in the 44th minute, midfielder Shai Eizen was sent off after he slid feet first into Itai Shechter who was speeding goalwards.
The infringement needed a long VAR check before referee Liran Liani pulled out the red card but that incident also ended Shechter’s involvement and he had to be replaced by Chico Ofoedu.
The resulting free kick after play resumed saw Atzili produce another superb effort but this time Gerafi did well to save the shot as he dived to his left.
Eyal Golasa added a second in the 63rd minute with a superb right-footed shot from 18 metres that curled in from the right and landed in the top of the Hapoel net and again, Gerafi was helpless to do anything about it.
For much of the second half, Maccabi took the game to Hapoel and the action was all in their half of the pitch. 
As the clock ticked down towards full time, Maccabi took complete charge of proceedings and in the 70th minute Ofoedu had an easy tap-in from a pass across the goalmouth by Dor Micha, who came on in place of Golasa six minutes earlier.
But it was not all smiles for Ofoedu who had to be carried off towards the end after going down injured with a suspected tendon tear. It also left Maccabi with 10 men after they had made all three of their substitutions.
