The Yellow & Blue scored three second half goals thanks to Aaron Schoenfeld, Barak Itzhaki and Avi Rikan to take the 3:0 (5:0 aggregate) win over Tirana and advance to the second round of Europa League qualifying. The hosts received a red card late in the first half and left them with ten men for the balance of the contest. Maccabi will host the winner of SJK from Finland and Reykjavik of Iceland next Thursday at the Netanya Stadium.

Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI featured Serbian Predrag Rajikovic in goal with a defensive corps of Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Tal Ben Haim and Ofir Davidzada. Captain Sheran Yeini, Dor Peretz and Eyal Golasa were in the midfield while Omer Atzily, Yonatan Cohen and Aaron Schoenfeld provided the attack.

Available on the each were keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Yuval Shpungin, Avi Rikan, Vidar Kjartansson, Barak Itzhaki, Egor Filipenka and Shlomi Azulay.

First Half
Golasa got past two Tirana players but the host keeper made the save in the 6th minute while three minutes later Yeini’s sharp angled chance from Atzily’s cross came up short. In the 12th minute Merveil Ndockyt of Tirana threatened Rajikovic’s goal but the keeper made the save. Five minutes later the first yellow card of the match was issued to Davidzada for a reckless tackle.

Atzily dribbled by a number of Tirana players but came up short in the box in the 24th minute while the referee called for a water break one minute later due to the high temperatures in Albania’s capital. Davidzada had a chance of his own in the box but the Tirana keeper made the stop in the 40th minute.

Four minutes later, Yunus Sentamu was shown a red card and was sent off for going into Ben Haim who didn’t have the ball. The linesman saw the action and indicated as such to the referee who left Tirana with 10-men for the rest of the match. Just before the halftime whistle Yeini found Atzily but the latter sent a rocket over the goal as the first 45 minutes came to an end.

Second Half
Tirana and Maccabi traded chances to begin the second half as Ndockyt sent a ball over the Yellow & Blue bar while Atzily did the exact same thing at the other end of the pitch. Finally the deadlock was broken in the 49th minute as Schoenfeld scored off of a terrific pass from the left side via Golasa as the American-Israeli striker slotted home the ball for the 1:0 lead.

Maccabi had a chance to double their lead in the 55th minute but Atzily’s attempt was blocked by the Tirana keeper while in the 62nd minute Cruyff made a pair of substitutions bringing in Avi Rikan and Yuval Shpungin in favor of Cohen and Dasa. Just prior to the personnel changes Atzily sent Cohen a great ball but his tough angled shot hit the post.

The Yellow & Blue continued pouring on the offense as Peretz dribbled into the box but his shot sailed by the post in the 66th minute as Davidzada found Golasa whose header just missed the target one minute later.

However, Itzhaki scored in the 80th minute from in front of the goal to give Maccabi a 2:0 lead while Rikan took an Atzily pass in the 86th minute to put away the second leg 3:0, 5:0 on aggregate.

Next Thursday night Maccabi will host the winner of SJK from Finland or Reykjavik of Iceland.

Shlomi Azulay, the Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder spoke about the first round second leg Europa League qualifying match that take solace later today, 18:00 Israel Time in Albania against Tirana. Following the club’s 2:0 win last week in Israel, the Yellow & Blue will look to advance to the next round but also knows that anything can still happen:

“We won the first match 2:0 but for us that was just the first half. We still have another match and hopefully we will successfully pass that test. Crazier things have happened and it can be a dangerous game.”

Match preparations:
“We have prepared like we usually do and this is an important match for us as it’s a European contest. Jordi prepared us well both from video analysis to certain drills in training and we will be ready to go.”

Weather conditions:
“We also train at these times of the day in Israel so we are used to this type of heat and we are professionals. The goal is to get through the match and advance to the next round.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv continues its European journey this evening (Thursday, 18:00 Israel Time) when they visit KF Tirana in Albania for the second leg of Europa League first round qualifying. Just before the match gets started, let’s go back to the first contest’s statistics and take a look at some of the professional pointers that we came across in the 90 minutes of action that occurred last week in Israel.

Attacking defensive backs
Maccabi’s game down the wings was very active as defenders Ofir Davidzada and Eli Dasa caused all kinds of havoc for the Albanian opponent which created many chances for the Yellow & Blue. In contrast to Tirana who played a very defensive style of game, Maccabi’s pair of backs spent most of the match in their opponent’s side of the pitch. That resulted in 10 dangerous offensive actions that were created by the Yellow & Blue, 6 of which ended with the last pass being made from the wings by one of the defenders into the box (as can be seen in the illustrations below).

Davidzada’s new beginning
Let’s continue to analyze Ofir Davidzada’s game. The defender already picked up an assist in his debut and looked very dynamic on the left side for the Yellow & Blue. A glance at the stats page also shows that he had plenty of success in other areas as well. Over the course of 90 minutes, Davidzada made 3 key passes which were all accurate, but not only that, number 27 sent five balls into the box with 3 making their way to their intended targets.

How about Omer Atzily?
There were plenty of interesting statistics from Atzily’s debut as the Club’s new recruit was extremely busy attempting to put 7 balls into the box with four making it to their intended addresses. Number 7 also made two key passes out of three attempts.

Maccabi Tel Aviv will look to advance to the second round of Europa League qualifying tomorrow (18:00) when they visit Albanian outfit KF Tirana in the return leg of the first qualifying round. Jordi Cruyff’s squad won the first leg 2:0 last week in Israel and spoke at the prematch press conference held at the Selman Stërmasi Stadium:

“I don’t think it’s correct to say that we came here already thinking that we have advanced, 2:0 is a good result but we know that nothing is finished. We are familiar with Israel’s history with Albania and we can’t take our opponent lightly. They came into the first leg very organized and we except that to be the case this time around as well.”

Weather conditions:
“The weather is similar to Israel with a lot of humidity, if we have any issues I don’t think it will be because of the weather. We have been training for only two weeks this season and we still need to play some more matches but I believe that we are ready to play. Our opponent will have to take some risks and press high and we will be ready for that.”

Impressions about his visit to Albania:
“This is the first time that I’ve been to Albania and I haven’t seen very much yet, but so far it’s been very nice, it’s been a good experience. I am familiar with players that have come from here and I respect all of the players that will be playing against us.”

European goals:
“Over the last few years our goal has been to advance to the group stages and it’s clear that this is something we want to do now. We want to succeed as much as possible in Europe.”

Veteran central defender Tal Ben Haim also addressed the assembled media:
“Last week we played against a very good club and we will continue to play our football and we expect that our opponent will make it difficult for us. We watched parts of the last match against them and focused on some of the good things we did as well as the things that need improvement. We know what to expect and we are prepared to play.”

Playing for a draw:
“We will never play for a draw and we expecting a tough contest. Tirana has some good players and we have prepared for this match and are planning on putting on a good performance. The have some good young players, but we believe in ourselves.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv made their way to Albania this morning as the players and professional staff flew from Ben Gurion airport to Tirana for the second leg of their two legged tie against the Albanian side. The Yellow & Blue will look to advance to the second round of Europa League qualifying after winning the first leg 2:0, when they play KF Tirana tomorrow at 18:00 Israel time in the second leg of the first qualifying round. Yoav Ziv also joined the rest of the squad on the flight after being named the Club’s new manager earlier this week replacing Benny Tabak who moved over to the scouting department.

Before departing for the airport the players received a Nivea Men Package that also included the brand new deodorant line “Protect & Care” as the squad were the first ones to try out the new product while at their Austrian Training Camp.

This evening, the Club will hold a prematch press conference along with the final training session at the Selman Stërmasi Stadium where they will also play on Thursday night.

All of the latest updates from Albania can be found on the Official Website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter social networks.

WATCH: First Leg Highlights 

 Maccabi Tel Aviv FC and Mavis Chibota signed a new 5-year-contract extension which will keep the 21-year-old Congo born winger at the club until 2022. 

Maccabi’s coach Jordi Cruyff told the clubs’ official website: “We are happy to have signed Mavis for a long period of time and are very satisfied with his progress. We believe in a yellow future for Mavis and will keep monitoring his progress closely”.

Chibota who joined Maccabi’s Youth Department in 2014 and is set to go on-loan, scored 10 goals in 69 appearances whilst spending the last two seasons  on loan at Hapoel Kfar Sava.

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC has today appointed former player, Yoav Ziv, as first team manager as the replacement of Benny Tabak who will become the club’s new Loan Player Liaison Officer.

Maccabi’s Coach, Jordi Cruyff, told the club’s official website: “We would all like to thank Benny for his contribution and efforts to the first team over the past 4 years. We look   forward to working closely with Benny in his new role at the club and at the same time, we are delighted to welcome Yoav back to the club and wish him all the best in his role. We are confident Yoav will add from his personal touch to what is a very demanding job.”

Benny Tabak said: “After a period of four seasons in a highly demanding job as the team manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s first team, I am delighted to return to the professional side of the club. I would like to thank all of those I worked alongside and wish Yoav Ziv all the best in his new role”. 

Ziv, added: “Maccabi Tel Aviv is the most natural place for me to return to and considering the fact I worked last season with the Youth Department I feel that I never really left. Today I am ending a long career as a player but at the same time excited ahead of a new start at a new role and hope to contribute to the organization from the experience I gained”.

 Yoav Ziv, spent six seasons at Maccabi between 2010-2016 since joining as a player from Belgian outfit Lokeren and scored 7 goals in 198 appearances as a full-back. The 36-year-old who decided to end a successful playing career after spending the last season with Hapoel Petah Tikva, was a key member in the Maccabi team which won 3 successive league titles and reached the Champions’ League group stage once and the EUROPA League on two other occasions. His last goal for Maccabi was at the 6-2 Cup final victory in May 2015 in a match which ended the historic treble winning season.