Maccabi Tel Aviv recorded their first league victory of the season as they defeated Kiryat Shemona 2:1. Omer Atzili scored his first Ligat Ha’Al goals in Yellow & Blue:

“Thursday night’s match against Altach was a tough game for the whole squad. Today we went into the break with a 2:0 lead. It was different and we shouldn’t have taken our foot off the gas in the second half. This shouldn’t happen. I hope that we will come back even stronger following the international break.”

More about the break:
“The break is coming at a good time. We have played many matches up until now. We made our first step by qualifying for the Europa League Group Stages. Now we will go on break with a win in hand and the goal for our next match is to look even better.”

Jordi Cruyff, the Yellow & Blue Head Coach looked back at his squad’s 2:1 Matchday 2 win over Kiryat Shemona, commented on Omer Atzili, Nick Blackman and his club’s play in general:

“The first half was good and we were fresh but we started to get tired in the second half and we couldn’t put three passes together in a row.”

On the defensive formation:
“That’s something that we have done quite a bit and instead of 4 in the back we played with 3. When they changed their system to 4-3-3 we did the same in the second half but that wasn’t the key for this match.”

About Nick Blackman’s debut:
“We planned for around 60 minutes and we saw how the game went and how he was playing and that he holds the ball and doesn’t lose the ball easily. That’s what we needed to get the team out of the defensive position and in the end other players were suffering a bit more physically. I’m very happy for him and to have him.”

Omer Atzili’s brace:
“Today he made the difference. When you win 2:1 and you score both goals you can say that he was decisive.”

Omer Atzili scored both Maccabi goals as they defeated Kiryat Shemona at the Acre Stadium on Matchday 2 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al. Nigel Hasselbaink pulled a goal back for the hosts in the second half but the Yellow & Blue took home the 3-points prior to the international break and will welcome Bnei Sakhnin to the Netanya Stadium on Matchday 3 in two weeks.

Head Coach Jordi Cruyff gave Englishman Nick Blackman his Yellow & Blue debut as Vidar Kjartansson and Omer Atzili joined his up front. Predrag Rajikovic was in goal with a defensive quartet of Captain Sheran Yeini, Eitan Tibi, Tal Ben Haim and Ofir Davidzada while Dor Peretz, Avi Rikan and Dor Micha played in the midfield.

Available on the bench were Daniel Tenenbaum, Yuval Shpungin, Egor Filipenka, Tino-Sven Susic, Cristian Battocchio, Barak Itzhaki and Aaron Schoenfeld.

First Half
Both sides exchanged chances over the opening ten minutes as Atzili’s free kick found Yeini in the box but the Captain couldn’t connect while Ahmed Abed’s 20 meter effort went out.

Maccabi would find the goal first when Davidzada sent a magnificent cross from the left side right to Atzili who beat the keeper to give the Yellow & Blue a 1:0 lead in the ‘20. Atzili got into the action again when his ‘26 minute corner went directly to Rikan but number 22 put the ball just over the bar and his own effort four minutes later just grazed the left post and went out for a corner.

In the ‘32 Atzili’s corner found Yeini in the box but number 13 put the ball over the bar as Maccabi looked to add to their lead. And add to the lead they would via Atzili in the ‘41. Micha took a deep pass from Peretz as number 15 left the ball for Atzili who slotted it home for his second of the night.

Second Half
Kiryat Shemona looked to get a goal back early in the half but Nigel Hasselbaink and Shoval Gozlan both came up short on their chances. However, it would be Nigel Hasselbaink who headed in a pinpoint pass from Ido Davidov to cut the Maccabi lead to 2:1 in the ‘61.

Cruyff made his first substitute of the match in the ‘62 as Cristian Battocchio entered the contest in favor of Micha. Rajikovic had to be sharp five minutes later as the Maccabi shot stopper made a great save off a Gozlan chance from in close while one minute later, Yuval Shpungin came on for Avi Rikan.

Blackman looked to regain Maccabi’s two-goal advantage as he took the ball from the right side dribbled into the box and unleashed a curler that just went over the bar in the ‘74. Shlomi Azulay almost evened the match up as he dribbled into the Maccabi box but his attempt went wide five minutes later while Hasselbaink had another fantastic chance to draw the hosts even but came up empty.

Aaron Schoenfeld was introduced in the ‘82 for Kjartansson as the Yellow & Blue made his final substitute of the evening and Shpungin was issued a yellow card in the ‘87. Maccabi held on over the five minutes of stoppage time as they took home the 3-points prior to the international break.

After advancing to the Europa League Group Stages, Maccabi Tel Aviv returns to domestic league action Sunday night, 20:10 at the Acre Stadium when they visit Kiryat Shemona. This evening the prematch press conference took place at Kiryat Shalom where both Head Coach Jordi Cruyff and Steve McClaren who recently joined the coaching staff addressed the media: