Shpungin, 31, leaves Maccabi after four seasons in which he won 1 League title, a State Cup and 2 Toto Cups, and a total of 246 appearances in 10 seasons.

Shpungin, a product of Maccabi’s youth department who scored two goals in 246 appearances for Maccabi in 10 seasons, told the club’s official website:“To summarise a period at Maccabi Tel Aviv is emotional by all means especially as this is the club I grew up at and was my home since the age of 7. Despite the fact I played for the senior side for 10 seasons with a four-year-break in the middle, the last four years were packed with quite a few powerful and emotional experiences. I would like to thank everyone I played alongside, trained under or worked with and especially the fans who supported me all along the way. I always wore the yellow shirt with pride and Maccabi will forever have more than a warm spot in my heart”.

Maccabi’s CEO Ben Mansford added: “Yuval is a true professional who has contributed greatly to Maccabi over the seasons. At the end of the season, every club is faced with these difficult decisions and this was a truly difficult one. Everyone at Maccabi wishes Yuval all the very best with his career and for his next chapter. Yuval will always be welcome at Maccabi.”

The 31-year-old full-back, who left Maccabi in 2010 and had spells with Omonia Nicosia and Belgian outfit Mons, retuned to Maccabi four years later for a second stint at the club. Shpungin, played a role in Maccabi’s treble winning side of 2014/5, helped the team qualify to the Champions League group stage the following year, as well as two successful campaigns in the Europa League group stage before winning the Toto Cup of 2017/18.

Gidi Kanuk, the Yellow & Blue midfielder looked back at his time with Maccabi Tel Aviv since his arrival this past winter:

“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but I thought I was coming into a different situation. However, I learned how to cope with disappointments for the first time as I wasn’t used to not playing and not being one of the leading players. It was hard at the beginning. I don’t know yet what will be next season but it’s all from above.”

More about his future:
“We’ll go on break now and see what will be down the road. I have a contract for another 1.5 years but it will all go through negotiations. It’s no secret that I’m not happy there. I may have a big contract but it’s not the most important thing for me at the age of 25. Everything is open, I don’t know what my future holds, we shall see.”

Jordi Cruyff, coaching in his last match as Maccabi Tel Aviv Coach looked back on his side’s 2:0 win over Bnei Yehuda to wrap up second place on the final Matchday of the 2017/18 campaign:

“We played serious with discipline and I think that it’s always necessary to do so. We had some difficult times this season and when you know your objective is out of your reach it’s hard to do so when you have a number of games left. The players gave everything over the past 4-5 games and I appreciate that as I’ve been in the situation before. The team recovered and they guaranteed second place.”

About the match:
“We had a few muscular injuries in the game and I hope they are fine and recover quickly.”

Looking back at 6 years:
“It’s always been a pleasure and I’ve always felt at home here and people have treated me exceptionally well. That’s probably one of the reasons I’ve been here 6 years. I’ve enjoyed the ride, both the difficult moments and the happier ones; that’s part of football. I feel very grateful as to the way I was treated here and I thank everybody for that.”

The Yellow & Blue defeated Bnei Yehuda 2:0 on Matchday 36 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al as the season came to a close with Maccabi locking up 2nd place. Omer Atzily scored a first half penalty while Gidi Kanuk found the back of the goal for his first marker with Maccabi to give Head Coach Jordi Cruyff a win in his last match with the Club.

Jordi Cruyff’s final Starting XI included keeper Predrag Rajikovic, Eli Dasa, Jean-Sylvain Babin, Tal Ben Haim, Ofir Davidzada, Sheran Yeini (C), Avi Rikan, Dor Peretz, Eyal Golasa, Omer Atzily and Aaron Schoenfeld.

Available on the bench were keeper Haviv Ohayon, Eitan Tibi, Dor Micha, Gidi Kanuk, Eliran Atar, Vidar Kjartansson and Nick Blackman.

First Half
Atzily had Maccabi’s first chance of the match in 8’ when he took a Schoenfeld pass on the left wing but just missed the far right hand corner of the Bnei Yehuda goal while two minutes later Dasa crossed the ball into the box from the right side to an awaiting Davidzada but his shot went wildly over the goal.

In the 17’ Yarden Shoa came in on the right wing and put a dangerous shot into the box but the ball hit the bar and made its way to safety. Atzily tried his luck from long distance but missed the mark in the 20’ and three minutes later Kandil’s chance was collected by Rajikovic. Dasa crossed the ball to Schoenfeld into the box, but his header just went wide in the 24’ and two minutes later a Habshi hand ball in the Bnei Yehuda box handed Maccabi the chance to take the lead via a penalty.

Atzliy stepped up to take the spot kick and made no mistake as he sent a missile into the top left hand corner of the goal for a 1:0 Maccabi advantage. Schoenfeld left Rikan the ball in the 36’ but his attempt went by the post and in the 43’ Shoa sent the ball to Mavis Tchibota on the left but his shot hit the outside netting of the goal as the Yellow & Blue took a 1:0 lead into the break.

Second Half
After 13 minutes of back and forth play, Maccabi made their first substitution of the contest as Gidi Kanuk came on for Rikan as the Yellow & Blue looked for an insurance marker. Ben Haim took a 25’ chance after a rebound off a corner but Zoubas made the save in the 61’ while in the 69’ Yonatan Cohen’s effort for the host’s just grazed the right post and went out.

Maccabi and Bnei Yehuda traded chances and in the 75’ Eliran Atar entered the match for Atzily while Kanuk’s attempt was taken care of by Zoubas four minutes later. However, Kanuk’s next chance found the back of the goal as the midfielder’s left footed shot beat the host keeper as Zoubas dove helplessly to his left to give Maccabi a 2:0 lead in the 79’. Eitan Tibi came on for Golasa in the 83’ for the Yellow & Blue’s 3rd and final substitute as Maccabi wrapped up a 2:0 win in Jordi Cruyff’s final match with the Club.

Maccabi Tel Aviv plays their last match of the season tonight at the Moshava Stadium against Bnei Yehuda, 21:00 which will also be Jordi Cruyff’s final game after 6 years at the Club.

The Yellow & Blue will look to end the campaign on a high note and finish in 2nd place on the table as they enter this evening’s contest with 68 points, one point ahead of Beitar Jerusalem who face Hapoel Haifa. Maccabi defeated Beitar last week 3:1.

Bnei Yehuda finds themselves in 6th place with 49 points and have already been eliminated from European competition, however they did beat Maccabi Netanya 5:0 last Matchday. Dan Mori, Nerijus Valksis, Almog Buzaglo and Ben Turgeman will be unavailable for Head Coach Yossi Abuksis due to injury.

Jordi Cruyff commented ahead of the match: “We need to give it all for 90 minutes to finish the best we can. Everybody will finally get a well deserved holiday. It’s been a long time that the players have had some time off. The league made a good decision about the Toto Cup competition to give the players a break.”

The Head Coach also looked back at his time with the club: “I don’t think I can mention one memory in general, but in football there are happy and sad days. When you leave a place normally you have mixed emotions, but I have a happy and proud feeling. There is always room for improvement. In general when I arrived here I said I wanted to be remembered as someone who was a plus and did more good than bad. The feeling I get is that I’ve done that. All good things have to come to an end.”

Some stats and facts:
Maccabi enters the match tonight with 3 wins in a row and are undefeated in their last 6 matches (4 wins and a draw).

The two clubs have met each other 5 times this season (3 in the league and twice in the Toto Cup). Maccabi won 4 and drew in one.

Maccabi has recorded a clean sheet in the last seven matches against Bnei Yehuda.

Daniel Lifshitz announced his decision to hang up his gloves at the age of 30 following an injury.

Lifshitz, who joined Maccabi from Hapoel Ra’anana three seasons ago made 7 appearances for Maccabi.

Lifshitz who announced his decision to the players and staff prior to the final practice at Kiryat Shalom, said: “I had 3 amazing seasons at Maccabi Tel Aviv. I was happy to make such a long journey throughout my career and if I had to chose a club and a place to end my playing career than this is it. The circumstances are not the happiest as I am suffering from a shoulder injury but I would like to thank everything I played alongside, trained under and worked with for the past three years at Maccabi and throughout my career”.