Preview

Maccabi arrived at the AEK Arena in Larnaca for the first leg of the Conference League 3rd qualifying round supported by around 600 travelling fans. For the match against the Cypriot side, Maccabi’s coach, Robbie Keane, made four changes to his side that beat Petrocub Hincesti last week in Moldova.

Daniel Peretz started in goal with Nir Bitton partnering Enric Saborit at the heart of defense. Roy Revivo kept his place as he made his second senior start at left-back while Yvann Macon completed the back-four on the right. Joris van Overeem continued in the anchorman role, with Dor Peretz and Dan Biton completing Keane’s unchanged midfield trio. Parfait Guiagon who impressed as he came off the bench last week before scoring the opener in Chisinau, started on one wing with Yonatan Cohen on the opposite flank. Eran Zahavi led the team out wearing the captain’s armband as well as Keane’s attack upfront.

On the bench amongst the substitutes, Keane, named Roi Mishpati, Dan Glazer, Dor Turgeman, Gabi Kanichowsky, Sheran Yeini, Eyal Golasa, Derrick Luckassen, Ofir Davidzda, Eylon Almog, Shahar Piven, Ido Shahar and Djordje Jovanovic who all waited for their chance to make an impact.

First Half

The match began at frantic pace as both teams pressed forward right from the off aiming to score an early goal. Two minutes after the start Dan Biton was booked by Belgian referee, Nathan Verboomen for a clumsy challenge on Nenad Tomovic. AEK’s Angel Garcia was also shown yellow for protesting the color of Biton’s card. The resulting free kick was clipped into the box by Gustavo Ledes, eluded Maccabi’s defense but was headed wide by Facundo Sanchez.

Within a minute Maccabi’s claims for a penalty were waved by Verboomen despite Biton clearly brought down in the area by Tomovic. AEK and Maccabi continued to look dangerous at both ends of the pitch and in the 10^th minute Roy Revivo was required to head the ball right from the goalmouth following a Garcia cross which managed to catch Daniel Peretz off guard. Three minutes later, Eran Zahavi slid the ball to Yonatan Cohen, but Maccabi’s forward who had only AEK’s keeper to beat, failed to connect. Peretz was called into action in the 16^th minute as he tipped over the bar an Adam Gyursco shot before Ledes missed a close-range header two minutes later. Maccabi continued to push forward as Cohen tested Kenan Piric with a curling left foot shot which was equaled by AEK’s keeper in the 20th minute.

A second penalty claim was also dismissed by the Belgian referee on 25 after AEK’s Bruno Gama handled the ball inside the area.

Four minutes after the half hour mark, Dor Peretz released Eran Zahavi with a through ball from the halfway line but he saw his effort sail wide of the left post. Maccabi created their best chance so far as Parfait Guiagon and Dor Peretz exchanged passes on the edge of the box before teeing-up Zahavi. Only for the veteran marksman to miss the target once again from a position he normally scores. In the 36 minute Zahavi blasted a shot over the crossbar as it was clear that it wasn’t going to be his day.
The referee’s halftime whistle sent both teams to catch their breaths following the action-packed first half and prepare for the second half.

Second Half

With no changes at the restart, Maccabi began the second half on the front foot as Guiagon stole a ball bear the halfway line and released Zahavi who was clear through but was let down by his first touch.

In the 51^st minute, Guiagon and Biton exchanged passes to break into AEK’s area, but the Ivorian who received the cut back and was in a good position to score – sent a weak shot straight at the keeper. The chances continued to fall in Maccabi’s way and less that 30 seconds later a Zahavi chip managed to confuse two AEK defenders as the ball fell to Peretz who broke clear through. But the 28-year-old midfielder saw his miscued effort roll across the face of goal and to the wrong side of the post. Maccabi continued to look dangerous and should have taken the lead two minutes later as Biton found Zahavi deep inside box before he unselfishly set up Peretz. But from five meters out, the hard-working midfielder somehow managed to guide his shot straight at Piric. AEK’s Spanish coach Jose Luis Oltra made his first change on 55 as Imad Faraj replaced Rafael Lopes. Enric Saborit was booked by Verboomed for a foul on fellow countryman Fran Sol in the 58th minute.

Two minutes after the hour mark, Maccabi’s keeper needed to remain alert to catch Sol’s volley, which was making its way into the top corner following a Gyurcso corner. But the deadlock was finally broken in the 64th minute as Cohen cut inside from the right before unleashing a left foot powerful drive that beat Piric to send the 600+ travelling fans off their seats.

A Maccabi counter-attack on 69 began with a Van Overeem through ball to Guiagon. The diminutive Ivorian sent a shot-come-cross that deflected off a defender before Piric clawed the ball out for a corner.

The hosts were back on level terms in the 80th minute as Fran Sol rose above Enric Saborit to flick a goal kick into the path of Faraj. AEK’s substitute stole the ball before Nir Bitton could clear, raced through on goal and toe-poked his effort beyond Peretz. Three minutes later the hosts were awarded a penalty as Yvann Macon was beaten to a tackle in the center circle before Gyurcso charged forward with Bitton judged to have brought him down in the area. Ivan Trickovski stepped up to take the spot-kick but Peretz pulled another heroic stunning save to keep out the penalty.

Despite the fourth official indicating six minutes of added time, no goals were scored as the tie will now be decided at Bloomfield next week.

Nir Bitton returned to Israel and joined Maccabi last summer after nine successful seasons at Glasgow where he won 18 trophies with Scottish giants Celtic. Bitton, who featured 55 times for Celtic in the Champions League and Europa League clearly knows what it takes to reach those levels: “The coaching staff will prepare us in the best possible way. They (Larnaca) reached the Round 16 in Conference League last season so we are dealing with a good, strong and experienced side. We will need to be at our best in order to beat them and we will hope to do so. We have a target this season – reaching the group stages.”

Biton who played in 2 of Maccabi’ three matches so far tis season, in the 6-1 victory away to Be’ersheva followed by the 3-0 victory over Petrocub at Bloomfield in the previous round, added: “I started last season on a high note as well. I believe in myself and know what I can give. Several things happened last season that got me a little out of my flow. Then there was the change in the coaching staff midway through the season. Now we have a new coach and we are all trying to adapt to his style. I am receiving a good feedback, which is not something one should take for granted. As far as I am concerned, it is not an individual sport but a team sport so I will keep on doing my best for the team like I have done throughout my career.”

Bitton, then shared some of the personal difficulties he experienced upon returning to Israel, as he didn’t hide his emotions: “There are things that happen off the pitch that people are not aware of, there is a family especially kids. One has to admit that even though I am Israeli and spent most of my life here, I returned after nine years of playing abroad. I never opened up on this until today, but my kids experienced a big crisis when we all returned. They suddenly didn’t hear English around them and the little one even suffered from issues with his speech. He struggled with the language, with adapting to Israel. Such things can effect an entire family and take a footballer off balance. There are issues that are beyond our control, but people tend to judge you based on your performance on the pitch, yet there are matters like family that are a little more important than football.”

Maccabi’s European journey continues as today (Tuesday) the team flew out to Cyprus ahead of the Conference League third qualifying round first leg against AEK Larnaca.

Before heading for Ben Gurion Airport the team arrived at Kiryat Shalom training complex where they held the final practice session and Press Conference ahead of the match.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s European journey takes another step on Wednesday (20:00) when Robbie Keane’s charges travel to Cyprus and face local side AEK Larnaca for the first leg of the Conference League 3^rd qualifying round. Shortly before the two-legged tie gets underway the time has come to learn about our opponents.

Last season’s achievement: Conference Leaguer Round of 16

Larnaca reached the Conference League qualifying rounds after finishing last season in third spot of the Cypriot league, eight points adrift of Champions Aris Limassol. This season the beat Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino of Belarus in the second qualifying round with a 4-3 aggregate victory.

Last season, Larnaca enjoyed a successful European campaign which began with an elimination in the Champions League 2^nd qualifying round, but continued by finishing 3^rd in the Europa League group stage ahead of Dynamo Kiev. Larnaca advanced to the Conference League knockout phase where they saw off another Ukrainian opposition SC Dnipro-1 before being eliminated at the Round of 16 by Premiership outfit West Ham United that ultimately won the competition.

 

Larnaca will host Maccabi on Wednesday at their 8000-capacity stadium, AEK Arena – Georgios Karapatakis which was completed in 2016 that also hosts the Cypriot national team matches.

The Spanish contingent

AEK has a strong Spanish influence as they are coached by Jose Luis Oltra as the 54-year-old Spaniard was appointed in June 2022 and begins his second season in charge. Larnaca are Oltra’s first club outside Spain after 20 years of coaching amongst other clubs at Levante, Tenerife, Almeria, Deportivo La Coruna, Mallorca, Recreativo, Granada and Racing Santander.

AEK tend to change their formation under Oltra pending on the identity of their formation yet by looking into the majority of matches last season the Cypriots mostly played 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3.

In other matches including the tie against Torpedo Zhodino in the previous round, Larnaca fielded two strikers, two wingers and two holding midfielders.

Just like many Cypriot sides, Larnaca’s squad has many foreign players edging the local players to the substitutes bench. The return leg against Zhodino, AEK named no less 11 foreign players in its’ starting line-up, with 2 Cypriots starting in the first leg. Larnaca have 5 Spanish players in the squad, ands 3 Portuguese players, 2 Bosnians and their captain is 36-year-old Macedonian forward Ivan Trichkovsdki who has been at the club since 2016. Trichkovski was Larnaca’s top goal-scorer last season with 11 goals, while Omri Altman, who rejoined Hapoel Tel Aviv, was their second top scorer with 8 league goals to his name.

Oltra opted this season to name a striking partnership of 31-year-old Spanish striker Fran Sol and Portuguese forward Rafael Lopes (32). Sol was bought by Dynamo Kiev in 2019 after a successful spell at Dutch side Willem II but spent most of his time on loan in Spain at Tenerife, Aibar and Malaga.

At the back Larnaca are not short of experience as former Fiorentina veteran Serbian central defender Nenad Tomovic and former Atletic Bilbau keeper Iago Herrerin yet in the last two matches Cypriot keeper Ioakeim Toumbas and Kenan Piric of Bosnia started in goal.

Maccabi play AEK Larnaca in Cyprus on Wednesday for the first leg of their Conference League third qualifying round before hosting the return leg at Bloomfield eight days later. The Playoff draw which took place at UEFA’s Headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on Monday, saw Robbie Keane’s side learn the identity of their potential next opponents.

NK Celje that finished last season in the runners-up spot of Slovenia’s PrvaLiga 6 points behind Champions Olimpija Ljubljana, hosted their matches so far at their Z’dezele stadium but will host at Stožice stadium in Ljubljana. Celje’s opponents Neman Grodno are currently midway through their domestic league season and are 2^nd in the table 3 points adrift of leaders Dinamo Minsk. With Belarus unable to host matches, Neman host their matches in Hungary at the home stadium of Gyori where Maccabi played a Champions League qualifier in the summer of 2013.

Should Maccabi qualify at the end of the two-legged tie against AEK Larnaca, they will host the first leg of the Playoff at Bloomfield on August 24^th before traveling to Hungary for the return leg a week later, on August 31^st.