Raz Shlomo pulled the save of the season as a goalmouth clearance from a Din David shot deep into the second half helped Maccabi to a 1-1 draw against Maccabi Haifa.
The 25-year-old Israeli international who scored a single league goal was seen celebrating after hooking the ball which was making its way in and denied Maccabi a defeat. “The clearance from Din David’s shot? It is the same feeling as Eran (Zahavi) and Dor (Turgeman) score a goal” he said before explaining. “I saw Din stop the ball with his first touch and fortunately he didn’t shoot it first time, so I simply did what I was supposed to do.”
After Maccabi dropped two points and Hapoel Be’ersheva beat next week’s opponents, Beitar Jerusalem, Zarko Lazetic’s side conceded top spot and dropped to second on goal difference. With six matches left to play, Shlomo remained confident: “There is still a long way to go before the championship is decided, we have a very tough Playoff, and this season has proven that teams will drop points so it will go to the wire. Be’ersheva are an excellent side especially at home which was proven once again as they beat a very good side in Beitar, so we will have to win points in every game we have. We also have a match left against Be’ersheva here at Bloomfield and I have no doubt that it will be tough all the way to the end.”
On conceding top spot and dropping to second, Shlomo added: “As far as I am concerned, I wouldn’t mind being in the second place for the rest of the season, as long as we will finish top on the final day. It has no importance whatsoever at this stage. We arrive at every match in this Playoff ready to win the win the points, because the matches are tough. We will try collect the points against Beitar at Teddy at a match which will be far from easy but still we will have to do what we know.”
Shlomo, who lost his place earlier this season but returned to the heart of defense and is one match away from playing his 40th match in all competitions this season, reflected: “I felt that I wasn’t playing my best football and someone else was given a chance. When things work out there is no reason to change” he added on Maccabi’s recent run of six unbeaten matches: “This may have happened in the past month so maybe I deserved to sit out for a month and in the end I think it only served me well.”
