Two second half goals in the space of 5 minutes saw Maccabi cancel Sivasspor’s early lead on the way to a 2-1 victory in Turkey. At the end of MD2 Maccabi maintained its 100% record just like next week’s opponents Vilarreal.

Pre Match

On the back of the victory over Qarabag on MD1 and the draw against Hapoel Be’ersheva in the league, Maccabi’s coach Georgios Donis made several changes to his starting line-up against Sivasspor.

Ofir Davidzada and Maor Kandil returned to the side and were named as the two wing-backs on the left and right respectively with Luis Hernandez, Eytan Tibi and Sheran Yeini as the three central midfielders. While Tibi made his 67th European appearance, Yeini made his overall 449th appearance for the club.

Dan Glazer who was rested against Be’ersheva returned to the side alongside Dor Peretz as the two anchormen at the heart of midfield. Avi Rikan and Dan Bitton were the two players assigned to supply the support for Etey Schechter upfront.

First Half

Daniel Tenenbaum was the first of the two keepers to be put under threat as a dangerous cross from Maccabi Netanya’s former striker Olarenwaju Kayode managed to confuse both Maccabi’s defense and Sivasspor’s forwards who failed to connect five minutes from the start. In the 13th minute however, Avi Rikan found himself in a glorious position to score as an accurate square ball from Maor Kandil caught Sivasspor’s defense off guard.

But the experienced midfielder who was unmarked in the area, was let down by his touch and failed to connect allowing the ball to roll across the penalty area. Sivasspor almost broke the deadlock on 26 as Dan Bitton was dispossessed of the ball by Max-Alain Gradel who charged forward but flashed his shot narrowly wide of Tenenbaum’s goal.

Sivasspor’s physical superiority began to show as the hosts began dominating the play while Maccabi tried hitting them on the break. But while Sivasspor’s crosses into the area were cleared or punched out by Tenenbaum, the 196cm tall goalkeeper at the opposite end Mamadou Samassa didn’t seem troubled by anything Donis’ side could muster.

Second Half

Three minutes from the restart Etey Schechter charged forward for a counter attack before teeing up Dor Peretz whose shot from the edge of the area went high over the crossbar.

In the 53rd minute Sivasspor’s Hakan Arslan tried surprising Tenenbaum with a long range effort which missed the target. But within a minute the hosts took the lead as Gradel was given the time and space to break forward and send a square ball which Kayode tucked home from close range.

Aleksandar Pesic made his debut appearance for Maccabi as he came in on 65 as part of a double substitution with Eyal Golasa replacing both Schechter and Kandil.

Within a minute of his introduction Golasa had a shot blocked and as Dor Peretz floated in the cross, Rikan sent the ball across the face of goal before Golasa was fouled by Samba Camara. Referee Irfan Peljto pointed at the penalty spot and sent off Camara with a straight red card. Dan Bitton stepped up, kept his calm and sent Samassa the wrong way to slot home the equaliser.

Donis shifted to four across the back with Yeni slotting to the right back, but Sivasspor came close as Mustapha Yatabare rattled Tenenbaum’s post on 71. Two minutes later however, the comeback was complete as Rikan’s clever back-heal flick released Peretz into the area. The midfielder’s initial shot was blocked by the advancing keeper, but Peretz recovered well to rise high and head in the rebound.

Eden Karzev and Yonatan Cohen replaced both Rikan and Bitton on 87 while Enric Saborit was introduced in injury time for Peretz as the fifth substitution.