In a bid to build on Sunday’s dramatic 4-3 victory over Hapoel Haifa, Maccabi’s coach Georgios Donis made five changes to his starting line-up for the visit of Maccabi Netanya. Maor Kandil and Enric Saborit returned to their roles as the right and left full backs respectively with Eytan Tibi and Luis Hernandez as the two central defenders.

Avi Rikan and Eyal Golasa who were both introduced at halftime against Hapoel Haifa joined Dan Glazer in midfield. Dan Biton also returned to the side as he joined two of the scorers against Haifa – Yonatan Cohen and Aleksandar Pesic to lead the attack.
Just before kickoff, Netanya’s coach Raymond Atterveld, who worked at Maccabi’s Youth Department for between 2016-2019 received flowers from Goalkeeper Daniel Peretzthanking him for his services for the club.

First Half

It took Maccabi seven minutes to launch the first serious attempt on goal as Eyal Golasa dribbled into the area and fired a powerful drive which was saved by Netanya’s keeper Dani Amos. Dan Biton pounced on the rebound but blasted his left foot volley high over the crossbar.

Avi Rikan tried to catch Amos off guard on 13 but his left foot drive from outside the area was equaled the Netanya keeper. A minute later, Enric Saborit whipped in a cross from the left and found Yonatan Cohen unmarked in the area, but the forward lost his footing and his header missed the target. 

Hen Ezra made Daniel Tenenbaum touch the ball for the first time in the 17th minute as he sent a dangerous low drive which skidded on the ground forcing Maccabi’s keeper to a double save.

In the 26th minute Aleksandar Pesic teed up Rikan for a shot on the edge of the area following a good cross from Maor Kandil, but the midfielder’s shot was blocked by a Netanya defender.

Four minutes later however, Netanya took the lead against the run of play as Kevaughn Frater broke into the area before sending a shot past Tenenbaum to put the visitors in front. On the stroke of halftime, Tenenbaum was forced to another save this time to deny Ezra who was left unmarked in the area.

Second Half

Donis made his first change at halftime as Ofir Davidzada came in for Rikan at the restart.  Within a minute Netanya’s Karem Ja’aber blocked a Cohe shot with his hand and referee Erez Papir needed the assistance of VAR to award a spot kick. Cohen, who scored the winning goal from the spot against Hapoel Haifa took the penalty but Amos saved to deny Maccabi the equaliser.

In the 53rd minute however, Maccabi were rewarded for their efforts as Kandil cut the ball back for Golasa who flicked the ball home to make it 1-1.

Golasa managed to pick Biton’s run behind Netanya’s defense with a perfect pass on 65, but the diminutive winger couldn’t control the ball. A minute later Netnaya punished and took the lead when the defense failed to deal with a corner and Dolev Azulay took the slightest of touches which rolled past Tenenbaum.

Donis made his second substitution in the 74th minute as Dor Peretz replaced Dan Glazer.

But as the Greek coach was preparing to make another change, Biton sent a cross into the area and Cohen somehow managed to direct his header which beat Amos and equalize once again. This was Biton’s final contribution as he was replaced by Eduardo Guerrero for the final 11 minutes.

In a bid to try and win the game, Donis made a double substitution as Tal Ben Chaim and Etey Shechter were introduced for Pesic and Kandil in the 86th minute. But despite seven minutes of added time, Netanya managed to hang on before the final whistle ensured the points are shared as Maccabi and Netanya remain neck and neck in the table.

With the next fixture set for Monday against Beitar Jerusalem at Teddy stadium, Maccabi will now enjoy their ‘longest break’ before regrouping to relaunch their next assault on the league.

 

141 – The number of times Maccabi played Netanya in the league until today. Maccabi played more matches in the league against only two clubs: Maccabi Haifa (164) and Hapoel Tel Aviv (157).

Maccabi beat Netanya 70 times, lost 35 and 36 matches ended in a draw with the goal difference 228-146 in Maccabi’s favor.

70 – The number of victories Maccabi recorded over Netanya in the league which is the team that was beaten more than any other opponent.

4– Eylon Almog scored four minutes from the start in the last time both teams met in the league. It was Maccabi’s fastest goal all season.

Since the 2015/16 season, Maccabi scored 11 goals in the opening five minutes with Maccabi Netanya and Maccabi Haifa conceding three goals each.

2 – Two players from Maccabi’s current squad, Etey Shechter and Dan Glazer played for Maccabi Netanya.

34 – The record appearances of a Maccabi player against Maccabi Netanya belongs to no other than Maccabi’s all time appearance record holder Miko Belo.

11 – Maccabi’s top goal-scorer against Maccabi Netanya is Benny Tabbak who scored eleven of his 177 goals for the club against tonight’s opponents.

9 – Maccabi enjoys a successful run of nine victories in succession recorded during Hanukkah. Maccabi’s first ever league match in Hanukkah was played against Maccabi Netanya in 1949 and resulted in a 3-0 victory with goals from Eli Fux (2) and Aharon Sidi.

Rikan, who scored Maccabi’s late third equalizer against Hapoel Haifa which paved the way to the dramatic 4-3 victory in injury time, added: “We prepare in the best possible way and like it that there are so many matches. We love to play and love to win” he said. “The most important thing is for me to help the team in the minutes I am called on and will try my hardest to be there regardless of the result being in our favor or against us. The most important thing is for us to keep on winning”.

Maccabi’s eSport team already competed in several lucrative events this season, but they are now on the brink of history. Maccabi’s official gaming team will be the first representative of an Israeli football club to compete from this Thursday in the FIFA 21 World Club Championship.

Preparing for the World Championship: Join the LIVE broadcast from the opening of the FUT packages and the Q&A session with Dor Eligula

 

When: 

The competition is regarded as one of the most important competitions in the international FIFA players calendar and will kick-off with the first round of matches this weekend on the 17^th and 18^th. Teams will battle for survival in an attempt to avoid elimination from the competition which will be played over three more weekends in January (7^th-8^th, 14^th-15^th, 21^st-22^nd).

LIVE broadcasts from all of Maccabi’s eSport team in the Clubs World Championship could be found on Maccabi’s official Youtube page

The opponents:

Maccabi Tel Aviv are proud to join a respectable group of leading international clubs from all over the world who will take part in the competition. Amongst the household names are clubs such as Lyon, Lokomotiv Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, Hertha Berlin, Istanbul Basaksehir and the spearheads of the eSport clubs across the world: Hashtag United and SK Gaming.

The format:

The championship will be played as a knockout phase, with the winner of each round improving its’ place in the ranking. The meeting will consist of a two legged tie, with one game played with a PlayStation console and the second game with the XBOX console. A deciding third match will be played in the event the tie is not decided during the two games, with the console on which the game will be played would be determined via a draw.

Maccabi will be represented by the club’s FIFA player Dor Eligula who will compete with the PlayStation. In addition, the championship will also feature 17-year-old Yuval Bleizovsky who represented us in the XBOX tournament.

Attention Gaming fans, a detailed explanation of the full format in which the Championship is played awaits you in the following video:

 

 

Maccabi will face Ukrainian Champions Shakhtar Donetsk in the Europa League Round of 32 knock-out phase following the draw which took play at UEFA’s Headquarters in Nyon on Monday.

Immediately after the draw, Maccabi’s coach Georgios Donis who guided the side to the lucrative stage for the second time in the club’s history, spoke of the opponents which finished third in their Champions League group ahead of Italian giants Inter Milan registering to victories against Real Madrid: “One can never say in the Europa League round of 32 that there is a comfortable draw” Donis said, “Shakhtar is an excellent side which should their good ability in the Champions League against Real Madrid and Inter (Milan). They have excellent players and Manor Solomon is only one of them. They have a team which in recent years competed in European competitions on a regular basis”.

With the first leg taking place at Bloomfield stadium on February 18th, Donis related to the fact the Ukrainian side will arrive after a two-month-long winter break, and added: “I think this could be a good thing for us that they arrive after two months with only training sessions and no matches. But we are talking about an extremely experienced side with great players. Our main objective at the moment is to improve our form as a team”. 

Donis, whose side began their European qualification campaign in one-off knock-out matches in the Champions League, before being eliminated by Salzburg in the Playoffs after a two legged-tie – will play a home and away tie for the second time this season. “When playing at home first we are aware of the away goals rule and know that conceding a goal is dangerous – so we will need to be aggressive and prepare for the return leg accordingly. For Maccabi Tel Aviv this is a very important experience and it is important for us to represent Maccabi with pride/ We will do everything we possibly can to represent the club properly”.

In his closing words, Donis, paid tribute to the former Liverpool and France national team coach, Gerrad Houllier, who died earlier today: “I would like to express my condolencesfollowing the death of French coach Gerrard Houllier, who died today. He was one of the World’s leading coaches who contributed a lot to the European game”.

After advancing from the group stage to the Europa League round of 32 for the second time in the club’s history, Maccabi learned the identity of their opponents in the knockout phase following the draw which took place at UEFA’s Headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on Monday.

Ukrainian Champions Shakhtar Donetsk and Israeli star midfielder, Manor Solomon, will await Georgios Donis’ side for a two-legged tie in February with the first leg scheduled to take place at Bloomfield stadium (18.2) and the return leg in Kiev (25.2).

The Ukrainian side that won the UEFA Cup in 2009 reached the Champions League Quarter Finals the following season and the Europa League Semi Finals in the 2015/16 season – enjoyed European success before the Even before the arrival of Manor Solomon from Maccabi Petah Tikva. Winning the domestic league championship in the last four seasons, Sahkhtar, who are currently second in their table behind Dynamo Kiev, became the dominant force in Ukraine.

This season, the side coached by Luis Castro, enjoyed a successful Champions League campaign and finished third in a tough group that included Real Madrid, Borussia Monchengladbach and Inter Milan.

Historically, Shakhtar have been attracting Brazilian talents before selling them to various European clubs as former players include: Manchester City’s Fernandinho, Willian of Arsenal, Bayern Munich’s Douglas Costa. At the moment, Shakhtar has no fewer that 13 Brazilian players in their squad with Marlos, Alan Patrick, Taison and Tete some of the names Maccabi’s players will have to watch out from.

Cohen, who just like in last season’s 4-3 victory over Maccabi Haifa scored an injury time winner said after the match: “It was an experience for the fans but we can’t be happy with our performance”. “The result is fun but we must improve. Especially in our defensive game as a team”.

“I work really hard for the team and want to win things for the club. Even when we were trailing we didn’t crack and always stuck together, even when results didn’t go in our favor”.