Hosts Maccabi Tel Aviv were held to a goalless draw by Beitar Jerusalem at Sammy Ofer Stadium on Monday in a fast-paced game that lacked accuracy and inventive play by both teams.

Maccabi held the vast majority of possession and put the ball in the net once, but from an offisde position, and had a number of other reasonable chances. Beitar, although playing mostly in their own half, also had a clutch of their own attempts on the Maccabi goal but never looked like seriously threatening Daniel Tenenbaum’s goal. 

It was a fourth goalless draw for Maccabi this season, and the first time in eight years that either of these two clubs have failed to get a decisive result against each other.

After 18 rounds of play, Maccabi lead Maccabi Haifa by four points in the TASE Premier League standings. Beitar are in third place, still 10 points off the pace.

A dynamic game with the crowd chanting loudly and constantly throughout made for an electric atmosphere. Maccabi held the lion’s share of possession in the first half and attacked the Beitar goal incessantly, but they had little to show for their efforts and due to some poor finishing. 

Beitar stormed into the second half determined to sting Maccabi on the counter, and set up a decent situation within the first minute, but the Maccabi defence, which had been alert in the first half, saw off the danger.

Within two minutes, Maccabi had the first real chance of the game when a beautiful curling left foot shot by Omer Atzili in front of goal from the edge of the area was well saved by Itamar Nitzan in the Beitar goal. Beitar’s Anthony Varen headed straight into the hands of Tenenbaum in the 55th minute and Beitar’s Levi Garcia shot over the bar in the 68th minute.

Maccabi striker Chico Ofoedu, who scored twice in the 4-0 away win in the first phase win over Beitar at Teddy Stadium came on as substitute in place of the ineffective Itay Shechter and finally put the ball in the net in the 71st minute just as Dor Micha came on for Avi Rikan, but Ofoedu was in an offside position when he received the ball and the goal was ruled out.

Ofoedu was almost sent clear on his way to goal with Beitar’s defence beaten late on and he would have scored had it not been for an alert Nitzan in the Beitar goal, who came well out of his area to head the ball away from danger.

Maccabi Tel Aviv host Beitar Jerusalem at Sammy Ofer Stadium in the featured match this week of the TASE Premier League on Monday at 20:15, but before that intriguing clash, expert players of the FIFA video game, Dor and Or Aligula representing Maccabi, challenged Beitar gamers to an on-screen FIFA-20 match at the Hisense store in Tel Aviv. The game can be seen live on this link.

Over many years, there have been 125 league meetings between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi hold the upper hand, having won 51 times. Beitar have won on 38 occasions and 36 matches have ended in a draw. The goal difference is 178-133 in favour of Maccabi.

Maccabi, on 43 points after 17 matches, lead the league from second-placed Maccabi Haifa by six points and Beitar are in third place, four points further adrift, ten points off the pace.

This will be the second time that Maccabi host Beitar at Sammy Ofer Stadium in the league, the last time was in 2014-15. They have hosted their rivals 37 times at Bloomfield, 14 times at Ramat Gan, six in Netanya and once each at Basa and the Maccabiah Stadium, venues that no longer exist.

Maccabi have beaten Beitar in their last four league meetings and another win will equal the record run of five consecutive wins achieved in January, 2011. Beitar, however, beat Maccabi 2-0 last September to win the Toto Cup final.

Maccabi’s biggest win was the 7-0 drubbing in the 2000-01 season when Rodrigo Goldberg and Avi Nimni each scored twice and Dedi Ben Dayan, Guy Tzarfati and Bruch Dego added the other goals. That was also equalled Beitar’s worst-ever league defeat, which the Jerusalem club suffered in 1955-56 when they were beaten by Hapoel Kiryat Haim in a second division clash.

The first phase 4-0 win this season saw Ruslan Barsky score his inaugural goal for Maccabi to seal the scoreline and he was the last of 11 other Maccabi players to score their debut goal for the club. Last before Barsky to achieve the feat was Eran Zahavi, in March 2013.

Maccabi conceded a penalty in the 4-0 win which was saved by Daniel Tenenbaum and it is the only spot kick that has been awarded against the league leaders so far this season. In the past three seasons, Maccabi have conceded six penalties but only one has been converted directly. Two goals have come off a rebound and three have been saved.

At least 64 players have turned out for both clubs over the years and of the current squad, four players have previously been on Beitar’s books: Omer Atzili, Itay Shechter, Avi Rikan and Eitan Tibi.

Avi Nimni has made most appearances for Maccabi against Beitar and he has scored 15 goals against them.

Maccabi have scored a 90th minute winner only once in the past, when Eran Zahavi struck for 3-2 in the 2015-16 season, when he broke the all-time season scoring record that had stood for 61 years.

Leaders Maccabi Tel Aviv will attempt to continue their fine run in the TASE Premier League on Monday against Beitar Jerusalem (kickoff 20:15) and midfielder Eyal Golasa spoke about his own form and the club’s hopes for the game ahead.

 

Golasa said he was fully fit for the game and said there was no reason to be concerned. “Everything is fine, it’s all good,” he said.

Sammy Ofer has been chosen as an alternate home venue because the IFA disciplinary court slapped Maccabi with a one-game radius punishment for fan trouble at the Tel Aviv Derby. The venue has proven a happy hunting ground for the club and last week’s 4-3 away win over Maccabi Haifa was clear proof of this.

“The atmosphere at Sammy Ofer is excellent and we like to play there, although we would prefer to play at home,” Golasa said. “We will be prepared just as we were against Maccabi Haifa and the coaching staff have readied us for the task ahead.”

But he warned of a tough match against a side that beat Maccabi in the Toto Cup final.

“We will have to be ready for Beitar and we have looked at their key players, it’s no secret that they are great players,” Golasa said.

The midfielder’s contract up for renewal in the summer and although he didn’t want to go into details, he said he would love to remain at the club.

“Of course I want to continue at a great club like Maccabi,” he said.