Aleksandar Pesic, a 28-year-old Serbian striker, who joined Maccabi on a free transfer from Saudi club Al-Ittihad Jeddah, successfully underwent a medical at the club and signed a one-year-deal with an option to extend by a further season.

Pesic, who will wear the number 72 at Maccabi, told the club’s official website: “I heard so much about Maccabi from my fellow countrymen Uros Nikolic, Predrag Rajkovic and Nikola Mitrovic. I was told that Maccabi always challenges for all titles and I am excited to join such a big club”.

Pesic, 190cm, who scored 10 goals in 23 appearances last season whilst on loan with South Korean club FC Seoul – joined Al-Ittihad in 2018 where he managed a goal in 12 appearances.  A season earlier however, the tall Serb was the top scorer in his country scoring 25 league goals and 22 assists and a total of 29 from 51 appearances in all competitions for Red Star Belgrade.

Three days after his 16^th birthday in 2008, Pesic, who made his first footballing steps at Radnicki Nis, became the youngest player to make his senior debut for his club. He then moved to Greece and spent two seasons for OFI Crete, joined Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova (2011-2013) before returning to Serbia to join Jagodina where he scored 17 in 27 appearances. In 20014 Pesic switched to French outfit Toulouse for which he scored 8 goals in 65 appearances but also spent a season on loan in Italy playing in Serie A’ with Atalanta.

In 2016 and at the age of 24, Pesic, who represented Serbia at U-21 and U-19 levels, made his only appearance for the national side against Ukraine.

Maccabi’s Greek coach Georgios Donis reacted to Friday’s EUROPA League draw which pitted his side against Spanish side Villarreal, Azerbaijan champions Qarabag and Turkish outfit Sivasspor.

The 50-year-old Greek who guided Apoel Nicosia to the Champions League group stage, qualified with Maccabi to the EUROPA League group stages for the 5^th time in the past decade. Donis, who was sent off during Wednesday’s 3-1 Champions League Playoff defeat to FC Salzburg, told the club’s official website after the draw: “After such a draw, my priority is not to say whether the draw is good or bad, but rather for the team to be in good shape after 20 days and to fight for every game. There is clearly one big club in our group, namely Villarreal, but the other two clubs are also quality sides. Qarabag is a very experienced side in Europe as they appeared in the Champions League group stage and they are a tough opponent.    Sivasspor is a good side from Turkey which is a very good league and the fact they finished fifth in the table speaks volumes. I believe that this group, besides Villarreal which are the clear favourites – is very open”.

Veteran striker Etey Schechter added: “It is not an easy draw. A strong Spanish team – Villarreal, Qarabg and Sivvasspor. We will definitely have to do our homework and learn about our opposition. We all know who are the current favourites to win the group. We will prepare for all our matches. For the moment the EUROPA League match is our next official fixture and I hope that we will return to play in the Israeli league as soon as possible. I also hope that the entire Israeli football returns to action both for the rest of the players and the fans”.

On the opponents Maccabi face in group ‘I’: “Villarreal is a side Maccabi had met in the past. One can’t say that this is the most attractive draw we could have had, but, on the other hand we are facing some strong sides. We will arrive and do our maximum in order to try and qualify from the group. We will prepare our best for those matches which are far from simple”.

“Who did I dream of drawing? I wanted to be drawn in the group of Napoli and Read Sociedad. I wanted to play at Napoli’s stadium and also play against a Spanish side which is something I had never done before. A club like Villarreal is a big club with a terrific stadium and set of home fans. At the moment, there are no fans allowed in, but still we will have to be prepared to face a side which has a good record at home”.

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).

Maccabi Tel Aviv were drawn in Group I with Spanish side Villarreal CF, Qarabag of Azerbaijan and Turkish outfit Sivasspor following the draw which took place at UEFA’s Headquarters in Nyon Switzerland.

This will be the second time Maccabi will face Villarreal as the Spanish side which is situated in the Castellon region, and coached by Unai Emery played against Maccabi during the last Europa League campaign in 2017. Maccabi held Villarreal to a 0-0 draw at Netanya in 28.9.17 before winning the reverse fixture 1-0 at the Estadio de la Ceramica thanks to a Nick Blackman goal on 7.12.17.

Azerbaijan champions Qarabag, who were drawn from Pot 2 are the dominant force in their country having won their domestic league title in the past 8 seasons. In the 2017/18 season, Qarabag qualified to the Champions League group stages yet struggled in a group which included Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and Roma. Turkish outfit Sivasspor finished last season fourth in the Turkish Super Lig but this season are currently 12^th having won 1, drawn 1 and lost 1 from the league matches they had played.

Group stages matches begin on October 22nd and will be played as a round-robin home and away fixtures until December 10^th. (Fixtures to be confirmed).

Group stage match-days:

MD1: October 22^nd

MD2: October 29^th

MD3: November 5^th

MD4: November 26^th

MD5: December 3^rd

MD6: December 10^th

Group A: Roma (ITA), BSC Young Boys (SUI), CFR Cluj (ROU), CSKA Sofia (BUL)

Group B: Arsenal (ENG), Rapid Vienna (AUT), Molde (NOR), Dundalk (IRE)

Group C: Bayer Leverkusen (GER), Slavia Prague (CZE), Hapoel Be’ersheva (ISR), Nice (FRA)

Group D: Benfica (POR), Standard Liège (BEL), Rangers (SCO), Lech Poznań (POL)

Group E: PSV Eindhoven (Ned), PAOK (GRE), Granada (SPA), Omonoia Nicosia (CYP)

Group F: Napoli (ITA), Real Sociedad (SPA), AZ Alkmaar (NED), Rijeka (CRO)

Group G: Sporting Braga (POR), Leicester City (ENG), AEK Athens (GRE), Zorya Luhansk (UKR)

Group H: Celtic (SCO), Sparta Prague (CZE), AC Milan (ITA), Lille (FRA)

Group I: Villarreal (SPA), Qarabağ (AZE), Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR), Sivasspor (TUR)

Group J: Tottenham Hotspur (ENG), PFC Ludogorets (BUL), Lask (AUT), Royal Antwerp (BEL)

Group K: CSKA Moscow (RUS), Dinamo Zagreb (CRO), Feyenoord (NEL), Wolfsberg (AUT)

Group L: KAA Gent (BEL), Red Star Belgrade (SRB), Hoffenheim (GER), Slovan Liberec (SVK)

“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”.