Maccabi Tel Aviv got back on the winning track in league action last night with a 1:0 win over Beitar Jerusalem. This was Vladimir Ivic’s squad’s 4th victory in as many matches against Beitar this season.

This is only the third time in history that Maccabi defeated Beitar 4 times in a season across all competitions. The first time was in 2002/03 when they won 4 of 6 matches and again in 2005/06 when they won 4 of 5 matches.

This was the first time in league play this season that Maccabi won 1:0 and it was the first time since they defeated Beitar in Toto Cup back in January by 1:0.

Maccabi has broken a number of club records this season and they added another one to the list against Beitar. By accumulating 49 points in 19 Matchdays, the Yellow & Blue broke the 47 point plateau which had been done 4 times previously in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 2014.

Maccabi continued their terrific season at the Netanya Stadium with their 6th straight home victory and 8th out of 9 contests.

The Yellow & Blue increased their lead atop the table to 18 points which is larger than the gap if 16 points between the 2nd place side and the bottom of the table.

Although Maccabi found the back of the goal only once they had 21 attempts towards the Beitar goal as well as 3 balls that hit the post.

Predrag Rajkovic made a huge save on Yossi Benayoun in injury time and kept a clean sheet for the 9th time this season in league play. He has blanked the opposition 14 times across all competitions.

To date the Serbian shot stopper has conceded only 10 goals in league action which means he takes the ball out from the back of his goal only once every 171 minutes. Not bad.

After scoring his first goal of the season in the win over Maccabi Netanya, Dor Micha stayed hot and scored for the second match in a row after he found the back of the goal against Hapoel Acre in State Cup play.

Micha has 3 goals in his last 4 matches while also recording one assist during that time.

Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Beitar Jerusalem 1:0 and the player who impressed you the most was Chico Ofoedu who was voted as the Man of the Match.

Other than Ofoedu, Predrag Rajkovic’s save garnered the Serbian shot stopper second place while Eliran Atar and Omer Atzili claimed the next two places.

Vladimir Ivic, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach looked back at his side’s 1:0 victory over Beitar Jerusalem on Matchday 19 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika

“I have to give congratulations to my players as they had a very good game. They fought from the first to the last seconds of the game like a team and we deserved the 3 points. Normally the result would be four or five zero as we had 3 posts and 3 more very good chances near the end. But football is a very difficult game and they could score near the end without a chance. Congratulations to my players again as they deserve this victory and they worked hard to achieve it.”

Are the other clubs learning how to play Maccabi?
“I don’t think so. I believe that we created some chances in the first half and it’s not impossible to create 10-15 chances every game. The opponent plays and we has a very strong team in front of us who didn’t create anything today.”

Quality and character to win the title:
“It’s both quality and character. We began playing our games in Europe and we have played a lot of games and we have only lost one game which was in the Europa League. We have worked hard and we will continue to work hard as we all know it. We are in the middle of the Championship and we have that as well as the State Cup in front of us. We want both trophies and to achieve it we need to fight until the end.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Beitar Jerusalem 1:0 thanks to Dor Micha’s second half goal as the Yellow & Blue picked up the win and the three points. Next week, Coach Vladimir Ivic’s squad will visit Hapoel Hadera on Matchday 20 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika. Prior to the match a ceremony was held to honor former Yellow & Blue central defender Tal Ben Haim who now plays for Beitar.

Head Coach Vladimir Ivic’s Starting XI included keeper Predrag Rajkovic, Maor Kandil, Sheran Yeini, Shahar Piven, Enric Saborit, Dan Glezer, Dor Peretz, Dor Micha, Omer Atzili, Eliran Atar, Chico Ofoedu.

Available on the bench: Daniel Tenenbaum, Eli Dasa, Jair Amador, Avi Rikan, Yonatan Cohen, Aron Schoenfeld, Ruslan Barsky.

First Half
Ofoedu had the first chance of the match but his sharp angled shot was saved by Itamar Nitzan in the 3’ while Glezer’s long distance attempt was also taken care of the Beitar shot stopper. Yeini’s 5’ header off an Atzili corner went over the bar as Maccabi continued to threaten. In the 11’ Beitar had their first chance of the match when Vered put the ball over the bar and three minutes later Gaëtan Varenne’s attempt off a Maor Buzaglo free kick was caught by Rajkovic.

Buzaglo’s 19’ free kick went over the goal as did Varenne’s header one minute later. Ofoedu’s low shot hit the left post in the 33’ which was followed up by a pair of Atar chances that went over the goal. Ange-Freddy Plumain’s opportunity in the box was taken care of by Rajkovic while Vered’s shot was also saved by the Maccabi keeper as the half ended goalless.

Atar had a chance to give Maccabi the lead in the 51’ but his volley was saved by Nitzan and 4 minutes later Atar put the ball off the bar as the Yellow & Blue searched for the opening goal. In the 57’ Atzili’s laser beam was parried away to safety by Nitzan and Ofoedu’s shot went off the post.

Finally in the 62’ Micha broke the ice when he tapped in Atzil’s shot from the right side that Nitzan couldn’t save to give Maccabi a 1:0 lead. Avi Rikan was introduced in favor of Atar in the 66’. Saborit’s 76’ volley went over the goal and 4 minutes later Atzili made way for Yonatan Cohen for Coach Ivic’s second substitution while Aron Schoenfeld came on for Ofoedu in the 89’. Rajkovic made a huge save off a Yossi Benayoun chance in the box in injury time as Maccabi wrapped up a 1:0 win over Beitar.

Maccabi Tel Aviv meets Beitar Jerusalem this evening in their Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika second round match which will be the 4th time this season that the two clubs have met. Let’s look back at the previous three contests between Vladimir Ivic’s squad and the capital city side:

29.7.18, Toto Cup: Beitar Jerusalem 0:1 Maccabi Tel Aviv
The first match between the two was in the Toto Cup as part of the clubs that played in UEFA competitions. This was Maccabi’s first step towards the title and thanks to Aron Schoenfeld the Yellow & Blue moved on to eventually capture the trophy.