Maccabi Tel Aviv continued their run of good form on Sunday and extended the run to 7 league victories after beating Maccabi Netanya 2-1 to record their 7^th successive win in all competitions. Goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera played a key role in winning the three points as he made a crucial penalty say to deny Netanya’s Eitan Azulay from scoring a penalty when the score was still at 1-1.

Shortly after the game, Mosquera shared his feelings as well as revealed what it has been like since joining Maccabi in the summer.

“When I first joined Maccabi I knew it was a big club and came here to play my part” he said, “This is what I have been trying to do in every match. I came here to contribute to the team reaching its targets.”

The 28-year-old keeper who made his second league appearance and sixth in all competitions, reflected: “Normally, when you join a new club the first few days are a little hard. I managed to get back in the team as the healthy competition I have for my place with the other keepers is good for me. It helps me be ready for matches and keeps me focused.”

The Panamanian international who made his mark by saving the penalty added: “I have been delighted to be here right from the start as this is a big club. I really hope to achieve very big goals here. Saving the penalty was a pure instinct, I didn’t know the player, so it was just an instinct I managed to save the spot kick.”

On life in Israel under the climate, Mosquera added: “It isn’t easy because the family is a little concerned but at moments like this, when you play football and win matches helps you forget a bit about what goes on outside of football. This is something both for us and the fans. Giving them the opportunity to think of other things the war is extremely important”.

With the game being held behind closed doors, Mosquera and his teammates when to acknowledge the fans who were supporting them during the match from outside the stadium. “I am happy for the fans as they always support us, so they deserve it. Winning game after game is obviously for them, so we’d want to win the championship for us but for them of course”.

Maccabi continues to lead the league table at the end of the 9^th league round as Robbie Keane’s side opened a 5-point lead at the top – a position they occupied from the start of the season.

Only four teams in Israel’s history led the table for the opening 9 matches: Hapoel Petah Tikva (1960/61 and 1963/64), Maccabi Haifa (2005/06) and Beitar Jerusalem (2007/08).

Maccabi’s start of the campaign keeps them unbeaten after 8 matches – winning 7 and drawing once. Only 4 teams in Israel’s history had a better start to a league campaign: Maccabi Tel Aviv (1953/54, 1993/94) and Maccabi Haifa (2005/06, 2009/10).

After guiding his side in 8 league matches (MD7 against Maccabi Haifa was postponed to January 10^th), Robbie Keane has a 92% success rate. This is the best start of any coach in the Israeli league history which is shared with 3 other coaches: Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Patrick van Leeuwen in 2021/22 and 3 coaches of Hapoel Petah Tikva (Ignac Molnar 1961), Slavko Milosevic (1964) and Nir Levin (1997).

Maccabi recorded their 1,121 league victory (the highest number in the league) with Netanya suffering the 75^th and highest number of defeats amongst all clubs. For the first time in Israel’s history a club reached the 75^th victory landmark against any specific opponent.

Maccabi extended their unbeaten home run against Netanya to 17 matches which equals the record set between 1950-1970.

Eran Zahavi, who scored his 7^th league goal last night, continued to score for the 6^th successive match in all competitions to reach the 20^th goal mark.

The 36-year-old striker scored in 7 of his last 8 league encounters against Netanya (88%). This equals the record for a Maccabi player which was scored in more than 5 encounters against a specific opponent, set by Avi Nimni (against Hapoel Jerusalem) and Eliran Atar (Against Hapoel Acco).

Orlando Mosquera saved Eitan Azulay’s penalty which was the first spot-kick fired at him as a Maccabi goalkeeper. Four previous Maccabi goalkeepers achieved that in the past: Shmuel Melika (1972/73), Dragoslav Jevric (2007/08), Daniel Tenenbaum (2019/20) and Daniel Peretz (2021/22).

v

 

The 28-year-old midfielder set up another goal, this time to Felicio Milson as Maccabi recorded their seventh league win in eight matches to beat Maccabi Netanya 2-1 at Bloomfield stadium.

Biton, who is enjoying his best season under Robbie Keane, said: “I just turn up and play my game. Anyone who knows me, knows that I do it with the biggest joy there is because I come to enjoy myself which is the most important thing. I am receiving a lot of credit from the coach and the rest of the coaching staff. They talk to me a lot and push me to do more. I am just delighted to be able to pay them back by showing them what I can do.”

Biton, who assisted a goal for Eran Zahavi against Gent in Serbia on Thursday, spoke at the end of Sunday’s game at Bloomfield of the busy schedule: “This is what I told my teammates right now after the game” before explaining: “To come here tonight after working so hard on Thursday and to win. Netanya are an excellent side and made our lives difficult which makes me even happier.”

With the game being held behind closed doors, Maccabi’s fans gathered outside the stadium and didn’t stop singing and chanting outside Bloomfield stadium. Biton and the rest of his teammates walked over to acknowledge them after the match. “It was amazing to see how they all came here tonight and cheered us on at this period of time” Biton said: “Our smallest contribution is to give our fans pleasure by winning matches. We release miss them.”