Maccabi Tel Aviv took a big step towards advancing to the next stage of the Conference League qualifying phase after beating Zira of Azerbaijan 3-0 at the Dalga Arena in Baku. Gabi Kanichowsky, and Djordje Jovanovic (2) scored the goals for Maccabi which hosts Zira at Bloomfield stadium for the return leg on Thursday, July 28th.

Pregame

Maccabi arrived at the Dalga Arena in Baku ahead of their Conference League second qualifying round first leg against Azeri side Zira. Maccabi’s coach Vladimir Ivic was missing several key players through injury, as the squad travelled to Azerbaijan without Dan Glazer, Shahar Piven, Eran Zahavi and Nir Bitton who are all recovering while Idan Nachmias also didn’t make the trip through illness.

In the absence of Nachmias, Ivic was forced to shuffle his defence as Enric Saborit partnered veteran captain Sheran Yeini at the heart of defence. Andre Geraldes on the right and Ofir Davidzada on the left completed Maccabi’s back-four supplying the protection for goalkeeper Daniel Peretz. With Glazer still missing, Joris van Overeem continued to fill the role of the holding midfielder as he was partnered by Eyal Golasa and Gabi Kanichowsky in the midfield engine room. Parfait Guiagon and Brandley Kuwas were assigned to both wings with Djordje Jovanovic leading the line up front.

On the bench Ivic named both Daniel Tenenbaum and Or Itzhak as the two goalkeepers with an additional 10 field players in Stipe Perica, Dan Biton, Eylon Almog, Avi Rikan, Nadav Nidam, Maor Kandil, Dor Turgeman, Roy Revivo, Oscar Gloukh and Matan Hozez.

First Half

Maccabi began the match on the front foot placing pressure on Zira’s defence right from the start a fact which awarded them a few set pieces. From one of those corners, Enric Saborit was clearly pulled to the ground inside the box by a Zira defender only for the Spaniard’s penalty claims to be waived by Irish referee Rob Hennessy.

It took Maccabi 18 minutes to have the first shot on target as Gabi Kanichowsky picked the ball deep inside Zira’s half, charged forward before sending a low left-foot drive that beat goalkeeper Mekhti Dzhenetov.

Maccabi doubled their lead four minutes later through Djordje Jovanovic who calmly slotted home from close range following a square ball from Eyal Golasa with Brandley Kuwas playing a key role in the build-up for the goal.

Jovanovic was the first player to go into the referee’s book for a foul on Nemanja Andelkovic near the halfway line. At the opposite end, Rustam Akmedzade broke from the left side of Maccabi’s defence and into the area but his shot didn’t trouble Daniel Peretz too much.

Two minutes after the half hour mark Hamidou Keyta exchanged passes Ragim Sadykhov on the edge of Maccabi’s box before the Frenchman blasted a shot which cleared Peretz’s crossbar. Kanichowsky could have increased Maccabi’s lead and doubled his tally on the night after being put through by Jovanovic but this time Dzhenetov managed to dive to his left and save.

In the 44th minute Kuwas teed-up Jovanovic on the edge of the Zira before the Serbian forward curled a shot which narrowly missed the target. Hennessy’s halftime whistle sent both teams into the dressing room to regroup before the second half.

Second Half

With no changes at the interval, a dangetrous Kuwas corner on 53 was headed across the face of goal by Jovanovic before Sheran Yeini forced Dzhenetov to push his header over the crossbar. But from the resulting Kanichowsky corner the Zira keeper could do nothing to keep out Jovanovic who tucked in Maccabi’s third in the 54^th minute.

Five minutes after the hour mark Ivic made his first change as he made a triple substitution with Avi Rikan coming-on for the industrious Golasa, Eylon Almog replacing Kuwas and Stipe Perica stepping-in for Jovanovic.

Ten minutes after his introduction Almog tried his luck from long range but his powerful drive that beat the keeper sailed to the wrong side of the post.

Perica got involved as well on 75 but his attempt of a shot from the edge of the area forced the keeper to a double save.

Parfait Guiagon who tormented Zira’s defenders throughout the match was replaced by Matan Hozez in the 82nd minute as Ivic gave the winger 8 minutes to make an impression. In the 88^th minute Ivic made his fifth and final change as Kanichowsky bowed out and was replaced by Oscar Gloukh allowing the youngster who starred for the Israel U-19 during the European Championship, get his first taste of European football at club level.

The final whistle ended the match which was played in very windy conditions. The second leg of this tie will be concluded next Thursday as Maccabi hosts Zira at completely different weather conditions – at a hot and humid Bloomfield stadium.

Vladimir Ivic returns to guide Maccabi Tel Aviv in European competitions as his side faces Azeri side Zira for the Conference League 2nd qualifying round first leg.

The team held their final practice session at the Dalga Arena on the outskirts of Baku, as the coach said at the pre-match press conference. “Before each match one has to think about many things in order to have the team prepare and play their best possible game” Ivic said. “Just like every time we do our maximum at this stage to prepare the team during the week ahead of the game and I am sure they are ready”.

On the opponents his side face tomorrow, Ivic added: “Zira are a side that finished third last season and we know they made some changes to their squad. They are a strong and organized team and we expect a game that we will have to be focused from the first minute to 90 or 95 minutes and until the final whistle is heard. We prepared a lot for this game and I believe that my players will be ready