Maccabi Tel Aviv travel to Doha stadium on Saturday for the MD8 league clash with Bnei Sakhnin (20:15) aiming to continue the run of form. Three days after recording an emphatic 3-0 victory in the Tel Aviv derby which put behind the disappointment following the defeat at Haifa, Maccabi’s coach Vladimir Ivic held an open training session at Bloomfield stadium which was attended by 1750 fans. At the end of practice, Ivic met the media and spoke of the importance in winning the derby as well as the match ahead against Sakhnin: “Every match and every victory is important especially when you play a derby after dropping points” Ivic said, “We prepared ourselves to play a tough match and win. We were the better side, we were more organized, we played attacking football and we won what we fought for”.

With a large squad at his disposal, the 45-year-old Serbian coach shared some of his selection problems he faces week-in-week-out: “When you have 24 field players and you play only in one competition, picking a squad is not easy. We initially prepared for something different, but we were left without Europe. We would like to give all our players the attention for their hard work and qualities they display. They are all quality players, but I only have 11 places in the starting line-up, and we can only use 5 substitutes who play each time so picking your 20-man-squad every time is not an easy task”.

Ivic, who has seen no less than 10 different players score goals in the league so far, said of his squad: “I satisfied with my players and their quality. I said in the past we might lack some balance but I don’t want to return to that. We have quality players and I am delighted with their qualities and what they show me every day. Obviously we are working very hard in order to improve both individually and as a team”.

Ahead of Saturday’s match against Bnei Sakhnin, Ivic added: “We face a very good side, they have experienced players and a good coach so we know what to expect from such a game. They are positioned well in the table and this is on merit. They deserve to be where they are so we know what to expect and need to be focused because it will be tough from the first second”.

Ivic, who confirmed that Oscar Gloukh is back to full fitness, spoke about the return of Yonatan Cohen who has yet to be named in the squad: “We are following the progress of Yonatan but don’t forget that he came here after a month without regular training. He hardly played last season (in Italy) in a similar way to Dor Peretz. This is a long period and players take time before they return to the fitness they were before they left. It is not easy and is a lot of hard work. We signed both of them as we believed they will return quickly to their fitness. Dor has been doing it and played in several matches. With Yonatan we need to be more patient as he had an injury a month ago, and we are making progress on a daily basis as I am the first one who wants him a 100% fit as he will help us a lot on the pitch”.

Preview

A week after suffering their first defeat in the league, Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to Bloomfield stadium for the MD7 league encounter against Hapoel Tel Aviv. With an extraordinary unbeaten record against their bitter city rivals, stretching to 8 years and over 3000 days, Maccabi were aiming to maintain that record. The defeats of Maccabi Haifa away to Bnei Reineh and Hapoel Jerusalem at home to Bnei Sakhnin will see Vladimir Ivic’s side return to the summit in the event of a fifth league win this season.

Ivic made several changes from the side which lost last week, as Nir Bitton returned to the centre of defence at the expense of Sheran Yeini. Shahar Piven and Enric Saborit partnered Bitton as the three central defenders in front of goalkeeper Daniel Peretz. Maor Kandil returned to the right wing-back role with Ofir Davidzada completed the defensive line on the opposite left flank. Dor Peretz was assigned to the midfield anchor-man role alongside Gabi Kanichowsky with Dan Glazer and Eyal Golasa dropping to the substitutes bench. Oscar Gloukh returned to the starting line-up, as did Djordje Jovanovic with the duo supporting Eran Zahavi in a three-prong attack.

On the bench Ivic named alongside Daniel Tenenbaum, Glazer and Golasa, Joris van Overeem, Guiagon Parfait, Avi Rikan, Derrick Luckassen, Andre Geraldes and Matan Hozez.

First Half

The electric atmosphere at a sold out Bloomfield stadium was infused seconds after kick-off by an arsenal of flares and smoke grenades was lit-up at both ends of the pitch forcing the game to be stopped. When the smoke eventually cleared the match was renewed, only for the visiting fans to repeat the pyrotechnics display and force the match to be stopped once again.

In the 23rd minute when the match was finally resumed, Maccabi attempted to play while Hapoel’s fans kept disrupting the game by throwing balls into the penalty area every time there was any sign of danger.

Maccabi’s first clear chance came in the 20th as Gabi Kanichowsky teed-up Dor Peretz whose attempt of a shot reached Djordje Jovanovic. The Serbian forward blasted his shot high over the crossbar before the fourth official indicated 25 minutes of added time. Enric Saborit headed a Kanichowsky corner over the bar as Maccabi kept threatening Stefan Marinovic’s goal.

Maor Kandil broke into the area and found Peretz who couldn’t keep his shot down before Alen Ozbolt forced Daniel Peretz to make a save at the opposite end. Hapoel’s Hisham Layous blasted over the bar shortly before Bloomfield erupted as Kandil beat Marinovic after Kanichowsky unselfishly released him. But the celebrations were short-lived as VAR cancelled the goal with claims of an offside against Ofir Davidzada in the build-up for the goal. On the stroke of halftime, Dan Einbinder was booked by referee Roei Reinshrieber for a high tackle on Dor Peretz and with no goals to either side the first half ended at a blank.

Second Half

With no changes after the interval Maccabi returned to the field and began the second period where they left off. Peretz shot high over the bar on 47 before Jovanovic who was put through by Eran Zahavi rattled Marinovic’s crossbar two minutes later with a fierce right-foot volley.

Right on the hour mark, Jovanovic who missed a close range effort earlier on, rose high to meet Davidzada’s cross from the left only to head over the bar. Two minutes later, Oscar Gloukh floated a ball into the path of Zahavi whose attempt of a volley was saved by Marinovic on his goal-line.

In the 64^th minute, Peretz was forced to dive at the feet and Ben Biton who exploited a mistake in Maccabi’s defence to race clear on goal. Vladimir Ivic made his first substitution in the 71st minute as Kanichowsky made way for Guiagon Parfait

The deadlock was finally broken in the 75th minute as Hapoel’s defence attempted to clear a Kandil cross which fell to Gloukh who blasted a powerful left foot half volley which gave Marinovic no chance. This was the final action of the diminutive youngster who pulled his calf muscle in the goal celebrations, was stretchered off and replaced by Eyal Golasa with Andre Geraldes coming on for Kandil.

Within a minute Maccabi doubled the lead as Jovanovic carried the ball half the length of the pitch, passed it to Guiagon whose flick released Zahavi. The veteran striker needed one touch as he blasted a right foot shot beyond the reach of Marinovic to make it 2-0 in the 80^th minute.

Jobanovic could have increased the lead and join in the goal fest as he was put through by Zahavi in the 86th minute but missed the target. Maccabi continued to toy with Hapoel and Ivic made two more changes as Peretz and Zahavi bowed out to a standing ovation with Dan Glazer and Avi Rikan introduced for the closing stages. Ivic’s substitutes made an immediate impact as inside injury time Guiagon released Rikan whose square ball was volleyed by Jovanovic into the roof of the nhet to seal the 3-0 victory.

Eran Zahavi who became the leading scorer in Tel Aviv derbies with his late second goal on the way to an emphatic 3-0 victory over Hapoel Tel Aviv insisted after the match: “I try to do my best on the pitch and in training. At the end of the day this is a long marathon as the most important thing is not to let any bit of criticism deflect me from my way of hard work and professionalism. My job is to do what my coach is asking from me and to make my teammates better. My job is to to give my absolute best yet sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I can only control the way in which I come every day and try and improve to be the best I possibly can. As for the other things, I don’t tend to be phased by this critic or the other.

Bitton, who returned to Israel after nine successful years with Celtic where he played Rangers at the world famous Old Firm derby, is looking forward to play in Israel’s biggest derby. The 30-year old central defender who sat out the defeat away to Haifa said: “I am feeling good as I wasn’t actually injured just suffering from some back pain which kept me out of a training for a week. Now I am a 100% fit and at the team’s disposal”.

Ahead of his first Tel Aviv derby, Bitton, who only played in Israe for Ashdod SC, reflected on his time in Scotland: “I was fortunate enough to play in a few bid derbies in my career. I heard a lot about the Tel Aviv derby as I know there is a lot at stake as this is a game which is more than football. It is important for the fans and the club with plenty of local pride at stake. As far as the players are concerned, it is an important game and we need to take the three points in order to build a positive momentum and continue our league run”