At the end of a turbulent Tel Aviv derby which saw Maccabi battle with 10 men before being held to a 0-0 draw by Hapoel Tel Aviv at Bloomfield, Dor Peretz didn’t hide his disappointment as he said at the end: “We arrived with a lot of motivation and so did they but it wasn’t enough on the night”. The 27-year old midfielder, added: “We didn’t play good enough football tonight and the chances we had and the number of shots on goal proved that. We need to play better football and know how to take our chances”.

Peretz, is aware of the fact Maccabi missed a chance to narrow the gap from the leaders even further, said: “We know that every match is super important and every point is massively precious but we remain positive as we need to move on knowing that journey is still long”.

On the departure of Oscar Gloukh and whether he was missed on the night, Peretz said: “Obviously he was a key player for us, but this club is strong enough and we will know how to manage without him”. Peretz admitted that the sending off of Enric Saborit midway through the second half, influenced the proceedings on the pitch, as he summed up: “Obviously after Saborit’s red card the we were in a tougher situation and the game was a different game to manage. But the journey is still long and we will continue moving on game by game.”

Preview

Maccabi returned to Bloomfield stadium for the MD20 ONE ZERO League match against arch city rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv as Aitor Karanka and his charges were ready to play the second Tel Aviv derby of the season.

Monday’s convincing 3-0 victory over Maccabi Haifa cut the deficit at the top of the table to five points. However, with Haifa being held to a 0-0 draw at home by bottom of the table Maccabi Bnei Reineh in the earlier match, the gap was temporarily increased to six. Any result in the derby but a defeat, would have seen Maccabi edge even closer to the league leaders and cut the gap to either five or three.

Oscar Gloukh’s departure to Red Bull Salzburg in midweek, meant that Karanka was forced to make at least one change from the side which beat Haifa.

The defence remained unchanged as Shahar Piven partnered Enric Saborit with the two central defenders lining-up in front of goalkeeper Daniel Peretz. Andre Geraldes and Ofir Davidzada completed Maccabi’s back-four on the right and left respectively as Karnka stuck with the same defensive formation. Dan Glazer and Dor Peretz were named by Karanka in the midfield engine room as the duo who had an outstanding game against Haifa had a battle at the centre of the park with their Hapoel counterparts. In the absence of Gloukh, Gabi Kanichowsky stepped into the side on one flank while Parfait Guiagon was named on the opposite wing. Eran Zahavi led the team out wearing the captain’s armband as the veteran marksman who scored 12 league goals so far partnered Djordje Jovanovic who scored 1 league goal less. The Zahavi and Jovanovic striking partnership that resulted with a total of 34 goals in all competitions were aiming to add more goals to their already impressive tally. On the bench, Karanka named Daniel Peretz, Joris van Overeem, Sheran Yeini, Avi Rikan, Eyal Golasa, Yonatan Cohen, Maor Kandil, Dor Turgeman and Nir Bitton amongst the substitutes

First Half

In what has become a tradition, seconds after referee Snir Levy got the game underway, dozens of flairs and smoke grenades were lit up at both ends of the stadium and hurled onto the pitch. Play was stopped immediately and resumed only around the 11th minute after the thick smoke which covered the pitch had cleared.

The opening stages saw both teams huff and puff in the middle of the park without being able to produce any end product. In the 28th minute Maccabi had the first serious chance as Gabi Kanichowsky and Parfait Guiagon exchanged passes before releasing Dor Peretz whose effort was blocked by a Hapoel defender. Two minutes later Eran Zahavi flashed a shot from a similar position on the edge of the area only for the ball to creep wide of the post.

To make up for the time wasted at the start due to the pyrotechnics display, the fourth official indicated 12 minutes of added time. Djordje Jovanovic came close as he rose above Hapoel’s defence to meet a Kanichowsky free kick but he headed over the bar. A minute later, Jovanovic was put through by Guiagon but the Serbian forward couldn’t control the ball allowing Emilijus Zubas to charge out of his goal and collect.

Enric Saborit, who normally supports the attack a lot more often, whipped in a cross from the left into the path of Zahavi whose header narrowly missed the target. Shortly before the interval, Shahar Piven became the first player to go into the referee’s book as the Maccabi defender was for bringing down Alen Ozbolt near the halfway line.

Second Half

In the 53rd minute Hapoel were awarded a penalty after Keys Ghanem lost his footing inside the area and Levy thought he was brought down by Saborit. But VAR intervened and cancelled the initial decision to give Hapoel a spot kick. Ten minutes later Hapoel’s defence failed to a clear a corner before Saborit sent a volley which cleared the crossbar. Maccabi continued the pressure in a bid to carve an opening as a Peretz shot on 67 struck the back of Jovanovic.

In the 72nd minute Hapoel came close to break the deadlock with their new signing Alexandar Boljevic denied by a combination of Daniel Peretz, the post and Ofir Davidzada. Levy awarded Hapoel a penalty and showed Davidzada a red card after he was judged to have handled the ball on the goal line. But once again VAR intervened and cancelled both the dismissal and the spot kick. In the 75^th minute, VAR could not rescue Saborit from being sent off as the Spanish defender needed a last gasp tackle on Keys Ghanem who latched onto a misplaced Piven pass and charged forward on goal. Saborit sacrificed himself and didn’t even look back as he walked off the pitch leaving his teammates to battle with 10 men for the last part of the game.

Karanka shuffled his side three minutes later as he introducing three players with Nir Bitton, Sheran Yeini and Avi Rikan coming on for Piven, Guiagon and Kanichowsky on 78. Yeini, made his 31^st appearance in Tel Aviv derbies to move within two more derbies from Maccabi’s all-time record holder who has 33 to his name.
Four minutes after his introduction, Rikan, came close as the veteran midfielder ghosted at the far post but couldn’t connect onto Zahavi’s cross.

In a bid to add a fresh pair of legs, Karanka, made his fourth and final substitution on the night as he introduced Eyal Golasa for Dan Glazer. Due to all the stoppages, the fourth official added 9 minute as Maccabi tried despite the numerical disadvantage to score. With no goals to either side, the full time whistle confirmed that Maccabi’s 8-year-long unbeaten record in derbies remain in-tact. But at the same time, the lost opportunity to narrow the gap at the top even further, meant that only one side was left on the pitch celebrating the 0-0 draw at the end. 

Maccabi faced Hapoel for a Tel Aviv league 164 times so far, winning 60 drawing 58 and losing 46 derbies with a total goal tally of 205-154.

The four derby victories in succession set an all-time victory record of 60-46 which is the biggest gap (14) each club ever had over its’ arch city rivals.

Maccabi’s unbeaten run in derbies now stretches to 19 in the league and 24 in all competitions. This is Maccabi’s second longest run against any league opponent with the highest being a 21 match unbeaten run in the league against Hapoel Be’ersheva between 1991-2002.

Seven league derbies were played on MD20 with Maccabi winning 4, drawing 1 and losing twice.

One of those victories was a 3-0 win recorded in the 2003/04 season which is also nicknamed ‘The Hail derby’ following the pellets of frozen drops during the game at the Ramat Gan stadium.

This was also the only league match in history where two opponents scored own goals (Yigal Antebi and Rami Halis) after Maccabi’s Brazilian midfielder, Bruno Reis, scored the opener.

Watch: The highlights from the 3-0 victory in the 2003/04 season.

Sheran Yeini participated in 30 derbies and is ranked second amongst the 381 players who pulled on a Maccabi shirt in a Tel Aviv derby. Yeini is 3 derbies away from Maccabi’s all-time record holder Miko Belo who played in 33 Tel Aviv derbies.

Shiye Glazer is Maccabi’s top goal-scorer in Tel Aviv derbies with 11 goals. Eran Zahavi who scored his 8^th goal when both teams met earlier this season, is joint second with Avi Nimni.

Hapoel’s coach, Haim Silvas, faced Maccabi on 20 occasions as the coach of Hapoel Ra’anana, Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, Hapoel Haifa and Bnei Sakhnin. Of these 20 encounters, Maccabi won 15, lost 2 with 3 of those matches ending in a draw.

Hapoel hosted Maccabi at the renewed Bloomfield stadium 5 times in the league (since the 2019/20 season). Maccabi won all five encounters and have a goal tally of 14-2. In four of these victories Maccabi kept a clean sheet while the fifth match resulted with a 3-2 dramatic victory.

The International Holocaust and Remembrance Day will be marked across the world tomorrow (January 27th) – a date chosen to commemorate the anniversary of the Auscwitz-Birkenau liberation from the Nazis in 1945.

Ahead of that date, the Maccabi Tel Aviv foundation held a special activity of commemoration with the club’s playing and coaching staff.

Last week, the first team and youth team players and staff gathered at Bloomfield stadium for a virtual-reality tour of the Auschwitz- Birkenau camp , using a headset.

The joint venture with ‘Triumph of the spirit’ exposed all the participants to a powerful, rattling VR tour of what happened at the world’s most infamous concentration camp.

Maccabi’s CEO, Sharon Tammam, said: “I don’t think that anyone who took part whether that be players, staff members Israeli or foreign thought he would endure such an experience. This doesn’t just make history into a story but into an actual real experience which makes you feel and experience it. It is not the an easy thing by all means, but something that in my opinion everyone should experience”.

The players and staff also shared their feelings as Daniel Tenenbaum, said: “It is very emotional and makes you feel like you are there. This experience gave us some understanding of what it felt like being there at such a tough moment for the entire Jewish nation.” Dan Glazer added: “Most of the players never got a chance to experience that during our school years as we are athletes so this is just rattling and I am grateful to have had the chance to do it.”

Maccabi’s fitness coach, Juan Torijo, who recently rejoined Maccabi for a third tenure, said: “When you watch it all and have the opportunity to see everything to the finer details, you get to see where all those atrocities took place, which is very important as it brings you even close to the Jewish nation”.

Maccabi’s captain, Sheran Yeini, summed up: “It makes you think of how important that is to always be better human beings because we witnessed what might happen when humans get a chance to show their evil side.”         

Three days after helping Maccabi to a convincing 3-0 victory over Maccabi Haifa which cut the deficit at the top of the table to five points, Shahar Piven, addressed the media and said: “The match against Haifa was good professionally, as we did what our coach asked us to during the week. But this is in the past and history as far as we are concerned.”

The 27-year-old defender whose performance at the heart of defence helped Maccabi keep a 13^th clean sheet this season, and will now have a Tel Aviv derby to look forward to, added: “I am happy we have a game which is similar in terms of atmosphere as there are plenty of home grown players who know the meaning of a derby to the fans. Saturday’s match is just as big, as Hapoel is a tough opponent to play against.”

With the first derby of the season resulting in a 3-0 victory back in October, Piven, remained focused on the task at hand: “We will begin our preparations today, watch them and arrive ready to win the match and continue our good form.”

Piven, who appeared in 10 of the 19 league matches so far this season and 12 in all competitions, added: “From the start of the season I played in a lot of matches and was happy to help the team every time I was called upon. My job is to train as hard as I possibly can and help my team, give everything on the pitch and if the coach thinks I can help he will let me play. I need to give everything in training and in matches and look at my personal gain or my ego, as this is a club which is dear to me. I grew up here and I am always happy to help.”

Piven, who is playing his fifth season in the first team, and played in quite a few Tel Aviv derbies also at youth level summed up: “You all know the history of the derbies and even if we had won the last few, derbies have their own rules and it is our job and our coaching staff to prepare for this match. Every match has its own targets and goals. We have two more days to prepare and then arrive to win this match for the fans that keep supporting us”.