The Israel Football Premier League, Ligat Ha’Al published the list of games for the upcoming Championship Playoff Matchdays. The “Match of the Season” away at Hapoel Beer Sheva will take place at Toto Turner Stadium on Saturday April 1st at 21:10.

The following Matchdays have been confirmed:
Matchday 28: 1.4 (Saturday) 21:10 – Hapoel Beer Sheva – Maccabi Tel Aviv
Matchday 29: 9.4 (Sunday) 21:00 – Maccabi Tel Aviv – Maccabi Haifa
Matchday 30: 15.4 (Saturday) 20:30 – Maccabi Tel Aviv – Maccabi Petah Tikva
Matchday 31: 22.4 (Saturday) 21:00 – Beitar Jerusalem – Maccabi Tel Aviv
Matchday 32: 25.4 (Tuesday) 19:45 – Bnei Sakhnin – Maccabi Tel Aviv

Eran Zahavi was honored prior to Maccabi Tel Aviv’s home match against Bnei Sakhnin. This is what he had to say about his very emotional return:

“It’s great to be back in Israel, even as a tourist, to see everyone and any chance I can come to a match, I do.”

Saying thank you:

“I wanted to say thank you, it was very exciting. I also want to say thank you to the Club, because it’s something unusual to have such a ceremony. I miss everyone.”

Goodbyes:

“Of course it was emotional as I didn’t have a chance to say good bye to the fans and the Club which I really wanted to do. I kept putting it off because I really didn’t want to do it since I know know how I am at saying goodbye. I didn’t want to say goodbye because I still feel part of the Club.”

Maccabi’s performance of late:

“I follow the Israeli league and right now it’s all open, it’s all in Maccabi hands. I hope that they can keep playing well as they are going through a good period and I’m happy that they won today and at the half I was nervous. It was 0:0 and it finished 3:0. If I had permission from Guangzhou to play, I would have.”

The Playoffs are Here
Maccabi Tel Aviv has hosted Bnei Sakhnin 4 times in the Championship Playoffs and last night marked their 4th win. This is also the 3rd time that the Yellow & Blue opened the Championship Playoffs with a victory. Last season they also got off to a good start as they beat Bnei Sakhnin 1:0.

The 3:0 victory last night was the Club’s 9th straight win across all competitions. In addition, this was the 7th win out of the nine that Maccabi was able to record a clean sheet along with being the 13th time out of 27 matches this season.

Ben Chaim’s Record
Winger Tal Ben Chaim scored his 11th goal last evening, breaking his own season scoring record in the Ligat Ha’Al. In 2010/11, number 11 scored 10 goals for Maccabi Petah Tikva which was his high up in until yesterday.

Barak Itzhaki scored his 7th league goal this season and equalled his scoring output from 2013/14 under Paulo Sousa. He scored the first goal of the match for Maccabi five times this campaign.

Loving the Second Half
Itzhaki’s strike found the back of the goal in the 56th minute and just under a quarter of the team’s goals have been scored between the 46th and 60th minutes.

Ben Chaim scored his goal in the 77th minute and another quarter of Maccabi’s goals have been scored in the last 15 minutes of the match between the 75th and 90th minutes.

In fact, 64.6% of the Yellow & Blue goals have been scored in the second half, including 3 goals that were scored last night.

Mazel Tov Ruben
Ruben Micael scored his first Maccabi goal against Sakhnin while Aaron Schoenfeld picked up his first assist with that marker.

Dor Micha assisted on two goals yesterday and leads the league with 10 helpers, opening up a gap of 3 on second place Mahran Radi who has 7.

Maccabi Tel Aviv passed their first Championship Playoff test as they defeated Bnei Sakhnin thanks to 3 second half goals giving the Yellow & Blue 9 straight win in all matches across all competitions. The Captain, Sheran Yeini helped his side to another clean sheet and spoke to the Official Website:

“The Playoffs got off to a very good start and it was important for us to win the way we did. I think that we sent out a very good message. We had a tough first half but in the second half we decided that we had to press and press until we could break open the match and force the win. It shows the strength of our Club and I’m very happy about that.”

About the fan support:
“We always feel the fans behind us and their support is fantastic. It’s very important that this continues and that they keep filling up the stadium. When you feel that the away matches are like home ones, those are the little things that are so important when we’re in the race for the Championship. Every little thing helps us get a bit closer to winning a title. There are times that we really need the crowd cheering us on.”

On the Zahavi ceremony:
“It was great to give Eran the bouquet of flowers. It’s too bad he’s not with us but I hope that one day he will return. I’m sure he misses us but I’m also certain that he enjoyed today’s game that had plenty of goals and a terrific atmosphere. When I was playing in Holland it always was good to see the team playing well.”

Head Coach Lito Vidigal summed up his sides’s 3:0 win over Bnei Sakhnin thanks to goals by Barak Itzhaki, Ruben Micael and Tal Ben Chaim as Dor Micha picked up two assists. The Angolan spoke about Barak Itzhaki and the match itself:

“The fans deserved a game like this and we played very well today. We had a lot of chances today and we scored three goals but most importantly we won the game and took the 3 points. We worked very hard this week, we played well and in the second half we scored three goals.”

Keys to victory:

“We played very well for the whole game including the first half. We played against a good team with good players and a good coach. We moved the ball well and controlled the game. The players worked hard and gave all that they had. We want to win all of our games and we will fight to win all of the remaining games.”

About Barak Itzhaki:

“He’s not an 18 year old but a 32 year old man. We know what he can do and he knows what he can do. He has responsibilities as well and he knows that.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv scored three goals in the second half to go on to defeat Bnei Sakhnin 3:0. Barak Itzhaki headed in the first thanks to a Micael helper while Schoenfeld assisted on Ruben Micael’s first goal for the Yellow & Blue’s second of the evening as Tal Ben Chaim finished off the show as he took another brilliant pass by Micha to score the third marker in the win.

Prior to the game Eran Zahavi was honored by Maccabi Tel Aviv as the superstar was back in Israel about to join the National Team for their match in Spain next week. Zahavi left the field in tears as he was emotionally touched by the cheers he received by the Yellow & Blue faithful.

Head Coach Lito Vidgal’s Staring XI included Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic along with defenders Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Tal Ben Haim and Captain Sheran Yeini. Gal Alberman, Ruben Micael and Dor Micha manned the midfield while Barak Itzhaki, Tal Ben Chaim and Vidar Kjartansson provided the attack.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Marcelo dos Santos. Yossi Benayoun, Avi Rikan, Egor Filipenka, Oscar Scarione and Aaron Schoenfeld.

First Half
Maccabi had a couple of quality chances in the 5th and 7th minutes as Micael’s effort just missed the goal while Itzhaki’s header was caught by the keeper as the match remained goalless early on. In the 12th minute, Dasa sent Kjaratansson a ball in the box but his opportunity missed the target.

Ben Chaim had an unbelievable chance in the 31st minute but his 35th minute effort was even better however, Kandil made the save as the ball almost went into the corner of the Sakhnin goal. Dasa picked up a yellow card a minute later as the balance of the half didn’t produce any chances.

Second Half
Tibi was sharp coming out of the break as he stopped Firas Mugrabi cold before he could go one on one with the Yellow & Blue keeper in the 48th minute while 3 minutes later Ben Chaim came off of they left wing but his shot just went wide left of the goal as Maccabi got closer and closer to scoring…Which they promptly did in the 55th minute as Micha’s brilliant cross found Itzhaki in they box who headed the ball into the right hand corner of the goal for a 1:0 lead.

Sakhnin made a pair of substitutes in the 60th minute, bringing in Ramzi Sfori and Yuval Abider as they looked to find the equalizer. As the visitors began to press, Vidigal countered with a fresh striker in the 71st minute introducing Aaron Schoenfeld for Kjartansson in a move that would pay dividends almost immediately.

Ben Chaim came through the middle of the pitch and passed the ball to Schoenfeld on the left wing who sent it back into the box and right to Micael who found the back of the goal for his first strike in Yellow & Blue to give Maccabi a 2:0 advantage in the 72nd minute.

If you thought Maccabi was done, then you’d be mistaken as Ben Chaim roofed the ball into the goal thanks to Micha’s second assist of the evening for a 3:0 lead in the 77th minute. Ten minutes later Ben Chaim tried to add another marker to his resume, but his curler just missed to the right of the goal as Maccabi came away with a 3:0 win.

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC will create, design and manufacture their own high quality and unique sportswear and now it’s time for you the fans to also take part in this important process.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART IN THE SURVEY

The Club will complete their 3-year contract with Adidas at the end of the current season and will move to an innovative and breakthrough design to fit the needs of players and the fans. The players recently chose the materials that will be used in manufacturing the jerseys while expressing their opinions on the subject at hand and now we want to hear from you and let us know what you think. Please click on the following link and answer the 4 questions concerning the design of the 2017/18 Match Kit and your repossess will help the club in its final decision. You may take part in the survey until Monday, March 20, 2017.

In order to produce first class high level products, specialists and consultants from Israel and abroad who have worked with leading sports brands will assist the Club. The product line will have unique designs and be manufactured using the latest technology in order to create a truly innovative line of Sportswear for Maccabi Tel Aviv FC, its players and fans.

Gal Alberman, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s veteran defensive midfielder discussed his club’s upcoming playoff contest against Bnei Sakhnin on Matchday 27 of the Ligat Ha’Al at the Netanya Stadium at 18:15. Number 6 spoke about going from the regular season to the playoffs, taking on Sakhnin and his current status:

“I don’t like to talk about myself, but you know that I’ve been here for many different situations over the years. I’m here for the club and whatever they need me to do I’ll be happy to help as best as I can.”

Game play:
“We had a lot of defensive responsibilities over the last few games but I’ve enjoyed it and we have to continue on our way.”

About Dor Peretz:
“Dor is an excellent player and at Maccabi there is a lot of competition for places in the squad. I know that he will play, the minutes and continue to improve. I really like him a lot and I’m sure he will return to Maccabi have a bright future.”

Getting results:
“We have had a good run and we have to continue to have these same good results. You have to remember that we had a very good half an hour to begin last game but we need to do this for a longer period of time and continue playing well to get the results that we want.”

Looking ahead to Sakhnin:
“We are playing Sakhnin on Saturday at 18:15 and we will work very hard today and tomorrow in training as we want to show how badly we want to win the title.”

Going from the regular season to the playoffs:
“We lost some points that we had hoped to collect this season, but no one knows what will be over the next ten playoff games. We have had an excellent run recently and that’s how we want to continue, collect points and pick it more wins.”

Preparing for the what lies ahead:
“We will prepare for any and all situations that will be ahead of us. We may have only scored one goal last match but we had scored many over the last number of games.”