Between the two legged tie with Reykjavik in Europa League second round qualifying, Tal Ben Haim and Aaron Schoenfeld took time out to meet the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. The pair signed autographs and took photos with the hundreds of fans who came to meet & greet their heroes at Cinema City Rishon Le’Zion. While at the Official Club Store, supporters purchased the brand new 2017/18 Jersey, training outfits, Maccabi-Class Back to School items and many more fun and exciting Yellow & Blue products.

Jordi Cruyff, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach looked back at his side’s 3:1 win over Reykjavik in the first leg of the Europa League second round qualifying tie. The boss discussed playing two strikers together, the status of various players and his dissatisfaction by the squad’s performance:

Jordi Cruyff Press Conference https://t.co/Cv1betuvn3

— Maccabi Tel-Aviv (@MaccabiTLVFC) July 13, 2017

“We played very sloppy and lost a lot of easy passes that we don’t normally lose. We had difficulties creating chances and crosses weren’t good, but once the goal came we showed character and then scored three goals. But we can’t be happy with the performance.”

Building anew:
“We are in a rebuilding process and lost a number of players and are signing others. Once the group is complete we will see more competition in the squad. Once the transfer period is over we will be where we need to be. I feel good about that. It’s always a risk to wait late into the transfer period but we will see. We won’t wait until the end of the transfer period and we hope players will want to come to israel.

Playing at 18:00 and will it happen again:
“It depends on the circumstances and the fans that came were great. There was good union between the fans and players and we thank them for coming. We may play at this time in the future but we will see. We train at this time a lot so 18:00 is fine as last week we played in Tirana at 17:00.”

About Omer Atzily:
“When you are a creative player you need to be sharp and creative in your head. You have to know what to do with the ball before you get it.”

Is a 3:1 home win enough?
“We will see, any time you give up an away goal it’s always dangerous. We will have a physical battle next week.”

The status of Marcelo dos Santos:
“I feel that there are other players who should play before. Sometimes it’s a question of adaptation. We wish they would but sometimes it just takes time.”

About Sagiv Yehezkel:
“He was injured yesterday and was going to be in the squad.”

Oscar Scarione moving to Turkey:
“His statistics as a football player are amazing. He gave us a very good 4-5 months, he always has stats and in 35 games scored 10 goals. He was unlucky with injuries, we received a good offer and he did as well so it was a business transaction. He was the ultimate professional while he was here.”

Playing Schoenfeld and Kjartansson together:
“I am a believer that you might need the contribution by both strikers.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC accepted an offer of an undisclosed fee from Turkish outfit Goztepe SK  for Oscar Scarione as the 31-year-old Argentine midfielder is set to leave the club. 

Scarione, scored 10 goals in 35 appearances in all competitions for Maccabi since joining the club on a free transfer from Kasimpasa last summer.

Maccabi’s coach Jordi Cruyff  told the club’s official website: “We would like to thank Oscar for his contribution to Maccabi Tel Aviv especially his goals in the European qualifying campaign and wish him all the best in his future”.

Next week, Maccabi Tel Aviv will head to Reykjavik, Iceland for the second leg of second round Europa League qualifying after taking a 3:1 victory in the first match last night and will look to advance to the 3rd round. Should they move on they will play either Panionios from Greece or Slovenian outfit Gorica.

WATCH: How it looked & sounded: Atzily’s 1st goal with Maccabi & Vidar’s 1st of the season

The first leg of the third round will be on July 27th with the return leg being played on August 3rd.

Up next: Panionios or Gorica
The first match between the two clubs ended in a 2:0 victory for Panionios at home as they will now head to the Slovenian city for the return match. Last season, Maccabi Tel Aviv opened up their European campaign against Gorica in the first round of Europa League qualifying. The Greek side plays in Athens and finished their domestic campaign in 5th place while Gorica ended their season in second.

The Panionios squad features German-Turkish striker Samed Yeşil who scored a brace in the first contest against Gorica. In addition, Head Coach Michalis Grigoriou’s side has a pair of Iranian players Masoud Shojaei and Ehsan Hajsafi who both started against the Slovenians as well as the Cameroonian central defender Banana Yaya who played in the Swiss and French leagues. Their home stadium Nea Smyrni holds 11,700 spectators.

Maccabi Tel Aviv will take a 3:1 advantage into the second leg of their two legged Europa League second round qualifying tie thanks to three second half goals by Aaron Schoenfeld, Vidar Kjartansson and Omer Atzily after spotting Reykjavik the first goal of the contest. The Yellow & Blue will travel to Iceland next week for the second leg on Thursday July 20th.

Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI was anchored by keeper Predrag Rajikovic with Davidzada, Dasa, Tibi and Ben Haim playing in front of him. Captain Sheran Yeini manned the midfield along with Eyal Golasa and Shlomi Azulay as Avi Rikan, Omer Atzily and Icelander Vidar Kjartansson played up top.

Available on the bench was keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Dor Peretz, Eliel Peretz, Barak Itzhaki, Aaron Schoenfeld, Yonatan Cohen and Yuval Shpungin.

First Half
The visitors went on a 2nd minute fast break but Rajikovic was up to he task early on to cut off the threat. Ten minutes later Atzily had Maccabi’s first chance of the contest as his corner came into the box but was cleared to safety.

In the 21st minute Dasa gave Golasa a nice cross but his header went wide of the target while five minutes later Kjartansson’s attempt was saved at the last moment by the Icelandic keeper. Atzily lifted a ball into the box to Rikan but he couldn’t find the handle on it in the 35th minute. After ten more minutes of back and forth football the sides went into the break goalless.

Second Half
The Yellow & Blue looked to get onto the board early but Rikan’s 50th minute scorcher went over the bar and Golasa’s screamer flew above the goal in the 54th minute as the match remained tied at 0:0.

However, that would not last for long as Palmi Palmason headed the ball in off a Kennie Chopart cross in the 58th minute and the Icelandic side took a 1:0 lead.

Cruyff made a double substitution 3 minutes later bringing on Aaron Schoenfeld and Barak Itzhaki in favor of Azulay and Rikan and the move paid off beautifully just four minutes later as Schoenfeld put home the ball after a scrum in the box to draw even 1:1.

In the 71st minute Reykjavik almost took the lead as Fridgeirsson’s opportunity was taken care of by Rajikovic. Dasa and Atzily tried their luck to find the Yellow & Blue’s 2nd goal of the match but came up empty, however, Vidar Kjartansson didn’t as he slotted the ball home in the 78th minute thanks to an Itzhaki pass for a 2:1 advantage.

With Maccabi hunting for a third marker they would find it via Omer Atzily as number 7 pounced on a rebound and pounded the ball into the Reykjavik goal for a 3:1 lead in the 82nd minute. Eliel Peretz came on for Atzily five minutes later to a round of applause as the Yellow & Blue wrapped up a tidy 3:1 victory and will now head to Iceland for the 2nd leg next on Thursday night July 20th.