Preview
Maccabi arrived at Teddy stadium for the MD30 WINNER League match against leaders Beitar Jerusalem on top form. Ronny Deila’s side that beat Maccabi Haifa in the Semi Final of the State Cup at Teddy on April 15th have since gone on a run of three victories in the league against Hapoel Tel Aviv (1-0), Maccabi Haifa (3-1) and Hapoel Be’ersheva (1-0) that saw them narrow the gap from top spot to six points. Beitar, the only side Maccabi failed to beat this season, are in excellent form themselves. Since the 1-2 defeat to Be’ersheva on MD22 on February 9th, Beitar are unbeaten in the last 7 league matches, winning five and drawing only against Maccabi (0-0) and Be’ersheva (2-2).
Maccabi’s dramatic 1-0 victory over Be’ersheva at Bloomfield, helped Beitar capture top spot, but cost Deila two suspensions as Ali Camara and Sagiv Jehezkel will be suspended from the match at Teddy. On the other hand, the Norwegian coach welcomes Roy Revivo and Tyrese Asante who were both suspended on Tuesday and return to face Beitar. While Asante and Revivo were named by Deila at right-back and left-back respectively, Heitor dos Santos and Raz Shlomo lined-up as the two central defenders in front of goalkeeper Ofek Melika. Deila kept the same midfield trio that looked impressive against Be’ersheva as Issouf Sissokho in the anchorman role sat behind the two leading goal-scorers Ido Shahar (15) and Dor Peretz (16). On the wings Deila stuck with Emir Sahiti and Helio Varela while Saied Abu Farchi led the attack aiming to add to his 7 league goals and 11 in all competitions.
On the bench, Deila, welcomed back from injury, Kristijan Belic, whose last appearance for Maccabi was on February 16th during the 0-0 against Beitar at Teddy. The Serbian midfielder will wait for his chance on the bench together with Kervin Andrade, Elad Madmon, Noam Ben Harosh, Ben Lederman, Itamar Noy, Itai Ben Hamo, Osher Davida and goalkeeper Roi Mishpati.
Those who will not be available to help Maccabi’s cause on the night are the fans as Maccabi begins a punishment of a two-match ban for traveling fans.
First Half
Backed by a packed Teddy Stadium full of Beitar fans, the hosts had the advantage in the stadium but on the pitch matters were different. Deila’s side took the initiative early on and in their first chance had the ball in the back of the net six minutes from the start. Helio Varela slipped the ball into the path of Roy Revivo who made the overlap run before squaring for Ido Shahar. The midfielder side footed the ball towards goal and was assisted by a Luka Gadrani deflection that beat Miguel Silva at the near post. Teddy was silenced as Maccabi celebrated the early goal, but the referee assistant raised his flag for offside. VAR intervened and spotted no offside allowing Shahar’s goal to stand as Maccabi were in front. Two minutes later at the opposite end Yarden Shuah played Omer Atzili in but Ofek Melika charged off his goal and blocked with his feet.
In the 17th minute Shuah cut to the middle and teed up Salomon Kalu for a powerful drive which was deflected out for a corner. Maccabi’s defense struggled to clear the resulting corner before Yarden Cohen’s attempt of a volley fell to Shuah who kept his composure and side footed his shot past Mishpati to level the score and set Teddy alight. In the 25th minute Yarin Levy and Atzili exchanged passes down the left as Shuah was released down the right. Levy clipped the ball for Samuel Kalu who was brought down in the box by Heitor dos Santos before Yigal Frid awarded a penalty. Atzili stepped up to take the spot kick but Melika who made a crucial penalty save against Hapoel in the Cup, managed to hook the ball off his line with his foot. Beitar completed their comeback right on the half hour mark, as Shuah floated a cross to the far post where Brayan Carabali rose high to nod the ball home. The blitz of the hosts continued in the 33rd minute as Heitor lost possession deep inside Maccabi’s half allowing Kalu to charge through the middle and fire a low shot into Melika’s bottom corner to make it 3-1.
As the fourth official raised his sign for 3 minutes of added time Beitar struggled to clear a corner as Shahar floated a ball towards Dor Peretz whose effort was blocked for another corner. Shahar crossed the resulting corner to the back post where Peretz headed across towards Tyrese Asante who headed home to cut the deficit and send both teams into the dressing rooms with the score at 3-2.
Second Half
Deila made one change after the break as Noam Ben Harush replaced Heitor at the restart with Asante moving across the back to join Raz Shlomo at the heart of defense. In the 52nd minute Beitar restored their two-goal lead as Ziv Ben Shimol received the ball from Kalu and sent it to Shuah. The Beitar captain let the ball run to Atzili who fired a low drive that beat Melika. Within a minute Atzili came close to score another as he stripped Shlomo of the ball and burst forward but Melika charged off his line to block and catch it at the second attempt. Shuah bowed out on 57 and was replaced by Jasond Gonzales as Barak Itzhaki replaced his captain and introduced his Colombian striker.
Six minutes after the hour mark Peretz sent a through ball to release Saied Abu Farchi whose effort was blocked by Luka Gadrani for a corner. Deila reacted with triple substitution two minutes later as Kristijan Belic, Kervin Andrade and Elad Madmon replaced Shahar, Emir Sahiti and Abu Farchi. Issouf Sissokho was booked in the 80th minute and Belic was also cautioned by Frid a minute later. Madmon drove a counterattack on 88 as he teed up Peretz on the edge of the Beitar area, but the captain’s powerful drive sailed over the crossbar. In the 90th minute Frid awarded Beitar a penalty as Belic made a last gasp tackle to clear for a corner. But VAR intervened once again, called Frid to the screen and the spot kick was cancelled. Inside injury time Sissokho was shown the red card for elbowing Timothy Muzie to earn himself an additional two match suspension and complete Maccabi’s misery on the night.
