Eylon Almog joined Hapoel Be’ersheva after an agreement was reached with Maccabi Tel Aviv FC for the transfer of the 24-year-old forward.

Almog, a product of Maccabi’s Youth Academy, made his senior Maccabi debut in 2016. Almog scored 17 goals in 111 appearances in Yellow and Blue, winning 1 league title (19/20), 1 State Cup (20/21), 1 Toto Cup (20/21) and 2 Super Cups (19/20 and 20/21).

Everyone at Maccabi would like to say thank you Eylon and wish him all the very best for the future.

Having successfully come through the qualifying phase, Maccabi will kick off their Conference League group stage with a home match against Icelandic outfit Breidablik (Bloomfield, 22:00).

While Maccabi features in the Conference League for the second time, their opponents set a record by becoming the first Icelandic team to have reached a European group stage.

After winning the championship last season, Breidablik began their qualifying campaign in the Champions League. Victories over Tre Penne of Sanb Marino (7-1) and Montenegrin outfit Buducnost Podgorica (5-0) in the Preliminary round saw Breidablik face Shamrock Rovers. A 3-1 victory on aggregate over the Irish side in the first qualifying round, led to a tie against neighboring Copenhagen where the Icelanders were beaten 8-3 on aggregate. Bosnia’s Zrinjski Mostar were the next opponents in the Europa League 3^rd qualifying round as Breidablik began the tie with a 1-0 win in the first leg but suffered a 2-6 defeat in the return leg as well as a transfer to the Conference League Play-off round. Breidablik won both legs of the tie against North Macedonia’s Struga by the same 1-0 result to secure a first group stage berth for the first time in their country’s history.

Their domestic league is well underway as after 23 league rounds, they are currently third in the standings having won 11, drawn 5 and lost 7. However, Breidablik will arrive at Bloomfield on the back of three league defeats to Vikingur Reykjavik (3-5), Fimleikafelag Hafnarfjaroar (0-2), with another (0-2) defeat to Fimleikafelag Hafnarfjaroar at the weekend – this time in the top Play-off.

Breidablik are guided by 49-year-old Icelandic coach, Óskar Hrafn Porvaldsson as their squad consists mostly of home-grown local players. Breidablik has two foreigners only from the neighboring Faroe Islands in strikers Patrik Johannesen (28) and Klemint Andrasson Olsen (33) who is the team’s leading goal scorer in the league with 5.

Another leading player is Breidablik’s right-back and captain Höskuldur Gunnlaugsson who scored 4 league goals and 6 in all competitions this season.

Eran Zahavi who was denied by the post and didn’t manage to add to his 10 goals scored this season as Maccabi were held to a 1-1 draw by Maccabi Bnei Reineh at Bloomfield said at the end of the game: “We played a game here which was packed with emotions, time wasting, small fouls which saw the opponents go to the ground and sometimes you shouldn’t make it legitimate. But I am not pointing a finger and blaming Bnei Reineh as they battled hard and did their job. It is not simple to come here to Bloomfield, we will not sulk and complain but will take responsibility for our actions.”

On what was missing on the night to win the match, Zahavi added: “We should have kept a clean sheet and failed to do so. Conceding an advantage due to a lapse in concentration and we found ourselves chasing a game instead of making it easy for ourselves. We are looking forward and we know we will not win all the matches this season but I hope we will win more matches than everyone else.”

The 36-year-old who one of the most experienced players in the team and the league, kept his feet on the ground as he summed up: “The league is a marathon and we must play against everyone as all the teams will come out here and we will travel to play them at their home ground. We can’t win every game. We came back after the international break and didn’t spend a lot of time together. We will now go back to basics, connect once again and everything will be as it should be. On Thursday we host our first match in the Group stage and we would like to do our job. What happened here tonight is already over and we are looking ahead for Thursday.”

Preview:

The visit of Bnei Reineh is Maccabi’s first of four matches in the space of 14 days as Robbie Keane’s side kick-start their Conference League Group stage campaign at home to Icelandic outfit Breidablik on Thursday. With that in mind, Maccabi’s Head Coach, Robbie Keane, made several changes to the side that won at Hadera before the international break. Roi Mishpati kept his place in goal, with Nir Bitton partnering Derrick Luckassen as the two central defenders. Ofir Davidzada stepped in for Roy Revivo at left-back with Yvann Macon completing Maccabi’s back-four on the opposite right flank.

Joris van Overeem kept his place as the midfield anchorman with Dor Peretz and Gabi Kanichowsky who returned from international duty with Israel, were the two additional players in Maccabi’s midfield engine room. Felicio Milson on one side and Yonatan Cohen on the other supplied the width to Keane’s frontline which was spearheaded by Eran Zahavi. While Kanichowsky scored Israel’s late winner against Belarus at Bloomfield, Zahavi who was left out of the national team set-up once again was aiming to add to his impressive tally of 10 goals from 10 matches in all competitions.

New signing, Orlando Mosquera, wasn’t included in the squad as opposed to Avishay Cohen who was named amongst the substitutes. Kiko Bondoso who underwent knee surgery on Friday, began his recovery which is set to sideline him for around six weeks. On the substitutes bench Keane named: Daniel Tenenbaum, Avishay Cohen, Roy Revivo, Enric Saborit, Idan Nachmias, Dan Biton, Ido Shahar and Osher Davida all waiting to make an impact.

First Half

Maccabi dominated the game right from the start enjoying most of the possession with Bnei Reineh struggling to get out of their own half. Joris van Overeem, Dor Peretz and Gabi Kanichowsky dictated the pace with Yonatan Cohen and Milson down the flanks receiving enough of the ball but both wingers were lacking accuracy on their deliveries. In the 10th minute Cohen charged down the right and crossed the ball which reached Milson before the Angolan winger blasted his shot high and wide. Three minutes later and against the run of play Reineh came close as Henry Vaca curled a shot forcing Roi Mishpati to stretch himself and push the ball out.

Eran Zahavi snapped a right foot shot from the edge of the area which was equaled by Reineh’s keeper Gad Amos in the 20th minute. Seven minute later and in the space of 60 seconds, Cohen wasted two chances as he first ended a well-drilled corner with a shot that went wide. The forward was then let down by his own touch after he was teed-up by Kanichowsky in the area but couldn‘t direct his shot on target.

Five minutes after the half hour mark, Ofir Davidzada managed to keep in what seemed like a lost ball before charging down the left and sending a pinpoint cross into the path of Zahavi. The veteran marksman beat his marker at the near post but miscued his shot wide from almost point-blank range.

The fourth official indicated four minutes of added time, before a collision between Nir Bitton and Reineh’s forward Qays Ghanem left the Maccabi defender on the ground requiring medical treatment for a split forehead. When play resumed, Maccabi reached their best chance as Derrick Luckassen floated the ball over Reineh’s defense into the path of Cohen whose shot come cross rolled across the face of goal for a goal kick

Eight minutes inside injury time Maccabi were rewarded for their efforts as the deadlock was finally broken by Milson to the delight of the 20,029 fans. Van Overeem carved Reineh’s defense open as he released Yvann Macon whose cut-back was flicked by Kanichowsky then by Peretz before reaching Milson who fired home past Amos.

Second Half

The second half began just like the first one with Maccabi enjoying most of the possession without creating anything clinical while at the opposite Reineh threatened to score. In the 53rd minute Ghanem managed to turn Luckassen in the box but saw his snapshot beat Mishpati but strike the post. Four minutes later however the visitors were back on level terms as Eyad Hutbah’s cross found Shlomi Azulay unmarked at the far post as the veteran forward sent a first-time volley to level the score. Keane reacted almost instantly with a double substitution as Dan Biton came on for Kanichowsky while Osher Davida replaced Cohen.

In the 65^th minute Biton came close to make his impact as Zahavi slipped him through, but Reineh’s keeper Gad Amos was quick to charge off his line and squander the chance.      

Zahavi came close three minutes later as Luckassen’s delicate chip over the top of Reineh’s defense left him with only Amos to beat but the 36-year-old saw his volley hit the base of the post. Davida’s silky skills took him past two Reineh defenders in the 71^st minute, but the winger who was making his home debut sent his cross straight at the keeper. Keane made his third change of the game on 74 as Enric Saborit came on for Nir Bitton in defense.

In the 80th minute Keane made his two final substitutions as Avishai Cohen was handed his Maccabi debut replacing Macon at right back while Dor Turgeman came on for Peretz.

Maccabi threw everything forward in a desperate bid to snatch a late winner this time a Saborit ball over Reineh’s defense picked Davidzada who timed his run well. The 32-year-old left-back squared the ball to Biton whose flick from close range struck the post before Turgeman’s attempt to push in the rebound was blocked by Amos on his goal-line.

Biton then rifled a low powerful drive which crept wide of the post and despite eight minutes of added time due to Reineh’s time wasting, the visitors managed to hang on to the result.

Snir Levy’s full-time whistle left Maccabi’s players on the pitch frustrated knowing they now face a Conference League match against Breidablik before facing bitter city rivals Hapoel for the Tel Aviv derby next Tuesday.