Pregame

Maccabi Tel Aviv open the 2021/22 domestic league season with a tough trip away to Bnei Sachnin. Coach Patrick van Leeuwen, returns to the Doha stadium where last season he guided Maccabi as caretaker to a Toto Cup Final victory over Sachnin. This tine round, and having guided Maccabi to the Conference League group stages, Van Leeuwen put the European exploits aside to focus on the league.

The Dutchman made two changes from the side that beat Shakhter Karagandy on Thursday at Bloomfield as Matan Baltaxa replaced Idan Nachmias as the second central defender alongside Louis Hernandez. Other than that the defence remained unchanged with Daniel Peretz in goal while Andre Geraldes and Enric Saborit completed the back-four on the left and right respectively. The midfield trio of Sheran Yeini, Dan Glazer and Avi Rikan remained unchanged for the third match in succession. Upfront, Matan Hozez replaced Eduardo Guerrero while Tal Ben Chaim and Osama Khaliala both kept their places. For the young forward this was the first outing against his boyhood club from which he joined Maccabi in the summer.

First Half

Maccabi wore the new Yellow and Blue stripy away strip for the first time, as they began the match with purpose and intention to stamp their authority right from the start. Two corners and two dangerous throw ins deep inside Sachnin’s territory put pressure on the hosts defence who struggled to clear the danger. In the 5th minute, Louis Hernandez launched one of his trademark long throws which was partly cleared towards Avi Rikan whose volley from the edge of the area struck the arm of Ari Moura. Referee Yigal Fried immediately awarded a penalty as even the intervention of VAR didn’t deny Maccabi the spot kick which was successfully converted by Enric Saborit for the first goal of the season.

In the 18th minute Raz Stain was sent into the area before being impeded by Daniel Peretz who charged off his goal-line. The referee awarded a penalty but his assistant raised his flag for offside. VAR intervened and after a long review of the incident a penalty was awarded. Beram Kayal stepped up and sent a low weak shot which saw Peretz make amends for his mistake, dive to his right and save. In the 25th minute Kayal chipped a free kick over Maccabi’s defense allowing Ihab Ghnayem to ghost into the area and head the ball only for Peretz to charge off his line and save. Two minute later however Peretz could do nothing to deny Abdallah Jaber’s shot which curled into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. Matan Hozez who was booked earlier on, limped off and was replaced in the 35th minute by Eduardo Guerrero.

In the 42nd minute, Kayal charged half the length of the pitch from his own penalty area towards Maccabi’s before releasing Moura whose shot was saved by Peretz.

Second Half

Within seconds of his introduction Biton had two shots on goal which were blocked by Sachnin’s defense before the balls could threaten Mahmoud Kandil in goal. Shortly after the hour mark van Leeuwen made a double as Eden Shamir and Stipe Perica were both handed their league debuts for Maccabi replacing both Yeini and Ben Chaim. Two minutes later, an Andre Geraldes cross reached Biton whose attempt of a shot fell to Perica but the Croat side footed the ball over the crossbar.

In the 74th minute Sachnin took the lead as Raz Stain was given the time and space on the edge of the area, before the diminutive forward struck a powerful right foot shot that rocketed past Peretz to make it 2-1. In the 90th minute a counter attack which began with Osama Khalaila and continued with a Perica flick to Biton, ultimately reached Khalaila whose shot from the edge of the area was blasted by Khalaila over the crossbar. The referee indicated nine minutes of added time giving Maccabi some hope of salvaging something on the night. Louis Hernandez managed to ge the ball in Kandil’s net after a header from Biton but the celebrations were shortlived as the goal was ruled out for offside and even a review of the VAR didn’t help.

Nir Lax who was introduced minutes earlier for Stain, sealed Sakhnin’s victory in injury time as he slotted a shot beyond the reach of Peretz to make it 3-1

Maccabi begins their 70^th season since the state of Israel was established and is the only club to have played in all of the 69 seasons up until today. Hapoel Tel Aviv are second with 67 seasons.

In 2,138 league matches: Maccabi won 1,073, drawn 571 and lost 494 and a total goal tally of 3535 – 2025.

Maccabi holds almost all of the possible league records, the senior of them:

The highest success rate (89.6%) in the two points per victory era (until the 1981/82 season) was achieved in the 1949/50 season.

The highest success rate (82.4%) in the three points per victory era (from the 1982/83 season).

The biggest gap between the champions and the second place – 31 points. Maccabi recorded that achievement in the 2018/19 season and secured the league title 8 rounds before the end of the season – another all time record.

The highest victory recorded in the top flight was a 13-0 win Maccabi recorded over Maccabi Rishon Lezion on January 7^th 1950.

Maccabi led the top flight table for 511 league rounds, more than any other club. Maccabi Haifa are second with 424 rounds at the top of the league table.

The longest run of successive victories (20) was achieved by Maccabi between July 1949 and October 1951.

The record number of goals in one season (100) Maccabi scored I the 1949/50 season where only 23 matches were played – averaging 4.3 goals per game !

The record number of goals scored by one player in one season (35) was achieved by Eran Zahavi in the 2015/16 season.

Maccabi produced the league’s top goal scorer 15 times – more than any other club in Israel.

The longest successive number of minutes with a clean sheet (1,272) was achieved by Daniel Tenenbaum in the 2019/20 season.

During that season, Maccabi managed a record of 29 clean sheets without conceding a goal from the 36 matches played.

Menachem ‘Miko’ Belo is Maccabi record appearance holder with 498 league matches. Of the current squad, Sheran Yeini has the most appearances in the league with 337 matches – six in the all-time appearance record for Maccabi.

Maccabi’s leading goal-scorer in the league (since the State of Israel was established) is Avi Nimni with 174 goals. Shiye Glazer is ranked second with 131 goals while Benny Tabbak is third with 121.

17,184,800 is the number of spectators who watched Maccabi Tel Aviv during the 2,089 matches held with fans. An average of 8,225 matches per game – more than any other club.

Maccabi Tel Aviv are in the group stages once again and guaranteed to play European football until the winter as today’s inaugural Conference League Group stage draw determined the opponents the team will face over the coming months. The draw which took place in Istanbul saw Maccabi drawn against Austrian outfit Lask Linz, Alashkert of Armenia and Finland’s HJK Helsinki.

Maccabi’s coach Patrick van Leeuwen said after the draw: “I think we were drawn into a very interesting group. We receive opponents from countries different to the ones we played against in Europe last season and also opponents who are at the same level as Maccabi which will make it very interesting to play them in the coming months. If we look at our opponents, they all qualified to the group stages and proved they deserve their place on merit. We will do everything possible in order to get the best results in every game and begin analysing them an prepare to face them”.

Ahead of Sunday’s League opener away to Bnei Sachnin, Van Leeuwen added: “We are preparing to play an important match in Sachnin that kicks off our domestic league season. All our focus at the moment is on Sunday’s game as we will come prepared to open a new campaign”.

The opponents

LASK was the team drawn from Pot A as the Austrian club which comes from the city of Linz finished fourth in last season’s Austrian top flight to earn a place in the Conference League. This season LASK began their European campaign by knocking out Serbia’s Vojvodina (7-1 on aggregate) and Scottish outfit St Johsntone (3-1 on aggregate). This is the third time in succession the Austrian club reaches the group stages as the two seasons ago they advanced to the Europa League round of 16 where they were eliminated by Manchester United. LASK played five league matches so far this season and are ranked in sixth place with six points.

Armenian Champions Alashkert became the first club to represent their country at a European group stage. Alashkert which originates from the capital of Yerevan, reached the Conference League group stage after starting their campaign in the qualifying phase of the Europa League where they reached the Playoff stage after knocking out Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan. Alashkert were beaten 1-0 by Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers to drop directly into the Conference League group stages.
The Armenian outfit has no less than 14 foreign players, but in terms of the domestic season Alashkert had an indifferent start to the season with 1 point from the first three league matches.

Maccabi met HJK Helsinki in the 2004/05 Champions League qualifying campaign on the way to a first appearance in the group stage. The Finnish outfit is the leading club in their country and arrive as the Champions of Finland.
Helsinki began their European campaign in the Champions League qualifying stages and were eliminated in the 2^nd round by Malmo. HJK then met Nefci Baku in the 3^rd qualifying round of the Europa League and after a 5-2 aggregate victory advanced to the Playoffs but were eliminated by Turkish giants Fenerbahce (6-2) to reach the Conference League group stages. Similar to most Scandinavian clubs, the Finnish League is well underway as after 17 rounds Helsinki are currently ranked top with a significant gap from second place.

Group A: LASK (AUT), Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR), Alashkert FC (ARM), HJK Helsinki (FIN).

Group B: Gent (BEL), FK Partizan Belgrade (SRB), Flora Tallinn (EST), Anorthosis Famagusta FC (CYP).

Group C: AS Roma (ITA), FC Zorya Luhansk (UKR), PFC CSKA-Sofia (BUL), FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR).

Group D: AZ Alkmaar (NED), CFR Cluj (ROU), FK Jablonec (CZE), Randers FC (DEN).

Group E: Slavia Prague (CZE), Feyenoord Rotterdam (NED), FC Union Berlin (GER), Maccabi Haifa (ISR)

Group F: FC Copenhagen (DEN), PAOK Thessaloniki (GRE), SK Slovan Bratislava (SVK), Lincoln Red Imps (GIB).

Group G: Tottenham Hotspur (ENG), Stade Rennes FC (FRA), Vitesse (NED), NS Mura (SVN).

Group H: FC Basel 1893 (SUI), Qarabağ FK (AZE), Kairat Almaty (KAZ), Omonoia FC (CYP)

How does the group stage work?

Teams in every group face each other home and away, with the same pairs of sides meeting on Matchdays 1 & 5, or Matchdays 2 & 6, or Matchdays 3 & 4.

The top two teams from each group will continue their European campaigns into the new year with the Group winners progress to the round of 16.

Teams that  finish in the runners-up spot go into the knockout round play-offs, where they will be joined by the teams finishing third in the Europa League groups.

On his current form, the combative midfielder added: “I am aware that I must improve and contribute more in terms of numbers. I feel that my teammates and the fans would like me to shoot and score more. The feeling, when the ball hit the back of the net was amazing”.

On qualification to the group stage, Glazer added: “It is very important as Maccabi now reached the group stages for the 7th time in 10 seasons. We are happy now but will try stretch this momentum to the league as well. Tonight was only the beginning”.