Pre Match

With the Europa League put aside for 24 hours or at least until the round of 32 draw which is set to take place at UEFA’s Headquarters in Switzerland tomorrow (14:00), Maccabi’s coach Georgios Donis made several changes to his side for the league match against Hapoel Haifa.

Ben Biton who limped off with a hamstring injury during the 3-2 defeat to Ashdod and Maor Kandil rested following Thursday’s match, meant that Shahar Piven received his first league start of the season at right-back. Ofir Davidzada, stepped into the side at left-back replacing the scorer of the winning goal against Sivasspor, Enric Saborit, to complete a back-four which also included Eytan Tibi and Luis Hernandez. Dan Glazer and Dor Peretz were assigned to the roles of the two anchormen in midfield while Yonatan Cohen and Eylon Almog were named on both wings.

Itay Schechter completed his one-match touchline ban to partner Aleksandar Pesic as the two strikers leading Maccabi’s charge to return to their winning ways.

First Half

Maccabi reached the first chance three minutes from the start as Yonatan Cohen’s corner fell to Dor Peretz who couldn’t keep his shot down as the ball ballooned high over the crossbar. Ten minutes later, Haifa’s keeper Ran Kadoch was at full stretch to deny Itay Schechter’s header following Eylon Almog’s pinpoint cross. Within two minutes, Kadoch needed a finger-tip save to push Eytan Tibi’s header out for a corner as the veteran central defender got behind Cohen’s free kick to direct the ball under the crossbar.

Against the run of play, the visitors were awarded a penalty after Shahar Piven tripped Keys Ghanem inside the area. Referee David Fuxman pointed at the spot before Gal Erel sent Daniel Tenenbaum the wrong way to give Haifa a 1-0 lead.

Haifa doubled their lead in the 26th minute as Ghanem received the ball behind Maccabi’s defensive line, sent the ball across the face of goal which was tapped innat the far post by Hanan Mamman.

Shechter had the ball in Kadoch’s net on 29 after a through ball from Aleksandar Pesic but the striker was caught offside and the goal disallowed.

Nothing could deny Yonatan Cohen from cutting the deficit in the 31st minute as the forward latched onto a loose ball after a goalmouth scramble involving Dor Peretz. Another dangerous Almog cross, this time from the right, found Schechter unmarked in the area but his header which beat the keeper narrowly missed the target on 35.

Ghanem could have increased Haifa’s lead on the brink of halftime but his volley missed Tenenbaum’s goal from close range.

Second Half

Donis made a triple substitution at halftime as Sheran Yeini, Avi Rikan and Eyal Golasa replaced Piven, Glazer and Almog at the restart.

Maccabi began the second half with pressure right from the start as twice in the space of two minutes Rikan first and Cohen tried beating Kadoch with long range efforts which sailed over the crossbar.

Pesic had a powerful effort blocked in the 50th minute and Golasa struck the woodwork within a minute as Maccabi kept pushing forward. But at the opposite end, Ghanem almost scored as his volley beat Tenenbaum but bounced back into the hands of the keeper from the post

In the 58th minute however, Haifa’s defense struggled to clear a corner which fell to Golasa who whipped in a cross which was headed in by Pesic to level the score at 2-2.

A minute after the hour mark, Hernandez found Rikan with a long diagonal ball, but the midfielder’s one touch knockdown was volleyed by Cohen high over the goal.

On 71 Kadoch made a last gasp save to deny Cohen’s free kick which threatened to bounce in at the near post. While a minute later, Maccabi’s on loan midfielder Ido Shahar who made a substitute appearance at Haifa had a goal ruled out for offside.

Maccabi were awarded a penalty in the 77th minute as Cohen’s volley following Rikan’s corner hit the hand of Yahav Gurfinkel. But the intervention of VAR cancelled the spot kick.

Tal Ben Chaim replaced Tibi for the final seven minutes in a bid to win the game. But in the 87th minute Sa’ar Fadida gave Haifa a 3-2 lead as he headed past Tenenbaum at the near post.

This thrilling game continued with goals at both ends when Rikan leveled the score in the 88th minutes and as the fourth official gave seven minutes if added time it was clearly going to have some crescendo. Four minutes in injury time, Cohen was brought down inside the area before Fuxman pointed at the spot once again. Cohen stepped up, successfully converted the spot kick to put Maccabi in front for the first time in the game and make it 4-3.

 

The captain who celebrated his 34th birthday earlier this week, added: “This is the second time in history we qualified from the group stages which is amazing. This is a moment we will cherish for the rest of our lives as we play football for moments like that. This is amazing for the club and for us as players. Everyone should experience something like that. Having achieved this extremely important target, we now have the time to work as we will need to make the adaptations to improve our record in the league”.

After the full-back spoke, a delighted Dan Glazer related to the team’s massive achievement: “You must understand that this season as far as it’s schedule and fixtures is very extra ordinary. The fixtures are congested, loads of pressure which is hard, but set the Europa League as a target and I am delighted we managed to do it. This is football for you, three days ago we were down and depressed while now we are on a high”.

Pregame
For the crucial match against Sivasspor, Maccabi’s coach Georgios Donis made two changes from the side which suffered a 3-2 defeat to Ashdod on Monday. Eytan Tibi stepped in for Sheran Yeini to partner Luis Hernandez as the two central defenders in front of Daniel Tenenbaum. Maor Kandil replaced Ben Biton at right back while Enric Saborit who served a one-match-touchline ban against Qarabag on MD5 returned to the left side of defense to complete the back four.

The midfield trio of Dan Glazer as the anchorman supported by Eyal Golasa and Dor Peretz all kept their places. Dan Biton and Yonatan Cohen were allocated to the wings with Aleksandar Pesic leading the attack.

First Half

The opening minutes of the game began with Maccabi dominance which saw Dor Peretz reach a good chance but the midfielder was let down by his touch. In the 10th minute Yonatan Cohen found himself deep inside Sivasspor’s half, but his attempt of a first time cross was over-hit.

In the closing stages of the first half Sivasspor took the initiative and won a few corners, but Maccabi’s defense managed to hold on. On the stroke of halftime Max Alain Gradel cut from the left to the center but Tenenbaum wasn’t caught off guard.

Second Half

Olarenwaju Kayode charged down the left side of Maccabi’s defense in the 55th minute only to see Mustapha Yatabare fail to connect onto the dangerous square ball the former Maccabi Netanya winger sent across the face of goal.

Donis made his first change two minutes after the hour mark as Ofir Davidzada replaced Biton. The tactical change saw Maccabi shift to three central defenders with Saborit pushing into the middle alongside Tibi and fellow Spaniard Hernandez.

The change paid off within five minutes as Saborit picked the ball inside Sivasspor’s half, charged forward and unleashed an unstoppable left foot shot which rocketed into the top corner giving Samassa no chance.

Donis added more firepower as Avi Rikan and Tal Ben Chaim replaced Golasa and Cohen on 73.

Nick Blackman and Sheran Yeini replaced Pesic and Saborit to fight on for the final seven minutes.

Seeking a second qualification

Maccabi managed only once in the past to reach the Europa League round of 32 – it happened during the 2013/14 season. Paulo Sousa guided Maccabi to second place in the group which also included Germain outfit Eintracht Frankfurt, French side Bordeaux and Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia which was then coached by Georgios Donis.

In the three other seasons Maccabi reached the Europa league group stages, the team didn’t advance through 2016/17 (3rd), 2011/12 and 2017/18 (4th).

In the 2013/14 season Maccabi reached the final Match Day 6 knowing that only a defeat at home to Bordeaux and a victory of APOEL Nicosia over Frankfurt could prevent a historic qualification. Maccabi completed the job and beat the French side thanks to an Eran Zahavi penalty.

In the match which took place two days short of seven years ago on December 12th 2013, Maccabi’s current players Sheran Yeini, Tal Ben Chaim and Eytan Tibi played as did Barak Itzhaki who started the match and Team Manager Yoav Ziv who made a second half substitute appearance.

What is Maccabi’s record on the final Match Day?

Historically, the sixth and final group stage match day is also Maccabi’s most successful. Maccabi’s has an 83% success rate on the final match day of the Europa League with 3 victories and 1 draw (3-3 away to Dynamo Kiev in 2011/12). The best success rate of all Maccabi’s match days.

And how do Maccabi fair in the knockout stages?

Besides the group stage matches, every European tie (in qualification or after the group stages) is a knockout phase.

Maccabi played 53 knockout ties in Europe (50 ties and 3 one-off matches this season). The summary: Maccabi successfully won 33 and were eliminated in 20.

The latest goal Maccabi scored which changed the outcome of the two legged tie was Liran Cohen’s 88th minute goal in the return leg against HJK Helsinki in the 2004/05 Champions League 2nd qualifying round.

After the 0-0 draw in Helsinki, Cohen scored the goal which secured Maccabi a place in the Playoff ahead of a historic qualification to the Champions league group stages.