Maccabi Tel Aviv reached the Europa League Group stages for the fifth time in a decade. Maccabi will discover their opponents for this autumn and winter as the draw for the Group stages will take place on Friday at 14:00 at UEFA’s Headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Despite several upsets in Thursday’s Europa League Playoff, Maccabi were still ranked in Pot C’ thus avoiding the likes of Spanish side Granada, Italian giants AC Milan, former Europa League opponents AZ Alkmaar of Holland, fellow Dutch power-house Feyenoord, Greek side AEK Athens, Glasgow Rangers, Norwegian Champions Molde, Lask of Austria, CFR Cluj of Rumania that knocked Maccabi out of the Champions League last season, Hapoel Be’ersheva, and former striker Mounas Dabbur’s German side Hoffenheim. The first MD of the Group stages is scheduled to take place on October 22^nd.

So who could Maccabi face? 27 clubs secured their place in the Group stage and were joined by 21 clubs who qualified through the UEL Playoff. Amongst the opponents that could qualify are Tottenham Hotspur that beat Maccabi Haifa 7-2 at White Harte Lane, CSKA Sofia that knocked out Basel as well as PSV Eindhoven featuring their new signing Eran Zahavi who scored on his debut to beat Rosenburg. As well as Zahavi and Dabbur another two former Maccabi players who could face their boyhood club are Eliel Peretz whose Austrian side Wolfsberg were placed in Pot D as is Mavis Chibotta with Bulgarian outfit Ludogorets.

Pot A: Arsenal (England), Tottenham Hotspur (England), Roma (Italy), Napoli (Italy), Benfica Lisbon (Portugal), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), Villarreal (Spain), CSKA Moscow (Russia), Sporting Braga (Portugal), Gent (Belgium), PSV Eindhoven (Holland), Celtic (Scotland).

Pot B: GNK Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Sparta Prague (Czech. Republic), Slavia Prague (Czech. Republic), Ludogorets (Bulgaria), Young Boys (Switzerland), Red Star Belgrade (Serbia), Rapid Vienna (Austria), Leicester City (England), Qarabag (Azerbijan), PAOK Thessaloniki (Greece). Standard Liege (Belgium), Real Sociedad (Spain).

Pot C: Granada (Spain), AC Milan (Italy), AZ Alkmaar (Holland), Feyenoord (Holland), AEK Athens (Greece), Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel), Rangers (Scotland), Molde (Norway), Hoffenheim (Germany), Lask (Austria), Hapoel Be’ersheva (Israel), CFR Cluj (Rumania).

Pot D:  Zorya Luhansk (Ukraine), Lille (France), Nice (France), Rijeka (Croatia), Dundalk (Ireland), Slovan Liberece (Slovakia), Royal Antwerp (Belgium), Lech Poznan (Poland), Sivasspor (Turkey), Wolfsberg (Austria), Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus), CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria).

“I dreamt about scoring at these stages especially for the club I grew up at” Kartzev said, “I am disappointed with the result and with the way in which the match had ended. We are looking forward to the next stage in the Europa League and I hope that we will do the job there”. “I feel as though I grabbed the chance in both hands. I hope that I proved to people that I deserve to be here. I hope to keep proving that in the next matches as well”.

“Salzburg are an excellent side”, said Golasa, “We didn’t have our ideal starting line-up. We did the maximum we could and I am proud of my teammates. Already in the first training session we had here we believed in ourselves and spoke about the possibility to qualify. We take future comfort in qualification to the Europa League. I believe we will see a more relaxed Maccabi especially when we return to our full squad. There is nothing to lose in the Europa League group stage, you just come to enjoy yourself as you don’t reach reach this stage every year. I hope that people will enjoy us there”.

Maccabi Tel Aviv Champions League is over after suffering a 3-1 defeat to Austria’s champions Salzburg in the Playoff as the two legged tie ended 5-2 on aggregate.
Eden Kartzev scored a temporary equalizer to cancel Daka’s early lead but a controversial penalty on the stroke of halftime resulted with the dismissal of Georgios Donis and ultimately took the tie beyond Maccabi’s reach.

Pre Match

Missing 11 players who are all recovering after testing positive for COVID, Maccabi’s coach Georgios Donis made several changes to the side which suffered a 2-1 defeat in Tel Aviv.

Ben Bitton, Eytan Tibi and Sheran Yeini were named as the three central defenders and the final line protecting Daniel Tenenbaum’s goal. Maor Kandil returned to the right side of defense after serving his one-match touchline ban while Matan Baltaxa slotted in on the left. Eden Kartzev and Eyal Golasa were named as the two anchormen at the heart of midfield. Itay Schechter and Dan Biton supplied the support for Eylon Almog upfront.

First Half

Salzburg began the game where they left off in Tel Aviv as they attacked Daniel Tenenbaum’s goal with large numbers. Patson Daka opened the scoring in the 16th minute as Dan Biton was dispossessed on the edge of the area before Daka fired past Tenenbaum.

Salzburg’s winger who was left unmarked to head a corner over the bar, could have doubled the score minutes later, but forced an instinct save from Tenenbaum. Sekou Koita also broke through but Tenenbaum once again came to the rescue with a last gasp save.

Right on the hour mark, Maccabi doubled the score in spectacular style as Eden Kartzev broke through the middle, blasted a shot which Cican Stankovic could only punch out before Kartzev latched on the rebound and blasted a low drive into the net.

On the stroke of halftime Salzburg were awarded a penalty in controversial circumstances which led to Donis being booked and then sent off by referee Felix Brych. Dominik Szolboszlal stepped up and just like at Bloomfield blasted his spot kick past Tenenbaum to make it 2-1 at halftime.

Second Half

With Donis sent to the stand, Makis Angelinas guided the side in the second half as Matan Hozez replaced Ben Biton on 64 in a bid to add a pair of fresh legs upfront. But within four minutes Salzburg increased their lead as Daka headed in his second and Salzburg’s third.

Amit Glazer replaced the tired Maor Kandil and Ronen Hanzis came in for Eylon Almog shortly after, but despite several attempts Maccabi couldn’t cut the deficit which stood on 5-2 on aggregate.

With a depleted squad at his disposal and a 2-1 deficit from the first leg against Salzburg, Maccabi’s Head Coach refuses to give up despite missing out on 11 first team players and nine staff members: “We are a united team. I am proud of everyone on the way in which we are dealing with this situation”.