Another two matches. That’s all that separates Maccabi Tel Aviv from the groups stages of the Europa League. Following the club’s 2:1 victory in the second leg against Pandurii, Shota Arveladze’s Yellow & Blue advanced to the playoff round of the European competition and will take on Croatian outfit Hajduk Split in a two-legged tie taking place on Thursday August 18th and 25th.

Following the draw with Croatian side Hajduk Split, Maccabi’s coach Shota Arveladze told the club’s official website: “So far we were drawn against clubs which were a logistic challenge to get to, this time we were drawn against one of Croatia’s big and famous clubs which is known for it’s atmosphere in the stadium. This time it will be a lot more than a logistic challenge as Hajduk is a very strong team, young and talented which had won all its matches so far this season”.

Know your opponent: Hajduk Split

The Croatian Club was founded in 1911 and had some fabulous seasons throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s when the country was still part of Yugoslavia. During the 1990’s Split advanced all the way to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. In 2010/11 the Croatian outfit was able to overcome some of its financial difficulties from the previous years to participate in the Europa League groups stages. Over the last two campaigns Split made it to the Europa League Playoff Round but could not advance further into the group stages.

Last season the club finished a distant third in their domestic league, well behind Dinamo Zagreb. The poor showing resulted in the departure of coach Damir Burić after only one campaign at the helm and was replaced by Marijan Pušnik this past summer.

Split is ranked 156 overall by UEFA and began their European campaign in Europa League second round qualifying and easily disposed of their Ukrainian and Romanian opponents. Domestically, the “Whites” have won their first two matches.

The club plays their home games at the 35,000 seat Stadion Poljud facility that is usually filled to the brim with their loyal fans.

Maccabi’s Georgian Head Coach, Shota Arveladze spoke to the press after his team moved on to the playoff round of the Europa League. With a 2:1 win at home following a 3:1 away victory, the Yellow & Blue will play another pair of games to see if they can advance to the group stages of the Europa League. Arveladze discussed his side’s goal scoring, the club’s efforts and about the match itself:

“I said that we were too nice, we had to kill the game and score on the chances that we had. We had possession about 65% of the match, and we gave up some fouls when we had to. We also had many one in one chances and we didn’t score. We have to kill a game earlier. The heat today made it hard to play for both teams.”

Goal scoring:

“I am looking to improve our goal scoring and find ways to spare more goals. It will cost money and we are ready for that.”

Potential transfers:

“I am not hiding anything and I’m not keeping any information. We won’t rush to just rush for a player.”

About Eden Ben Basat:

“I count every single player who comes to my training sessions. Any player who has a contract and respects the club will be respected back. We can’t live by. rumors but with hard work. We have a responsibly to succeed.”

Efforts by the club:

“We have played 8 games up to now and I have to give credit to the boys. They put all of their efforts in and train everyday very hard and they are playing good games. I just have to say that we can be stronger.”

Concentrating to scoring:

“As a coach we always talk to the players to see if things are ok. Lives may make things difficult and opponents may make things difficult. We just have to concentrate and score goals.”

Eden Ben Basat, Maccabi’s striker spoke about this evening’s match against Pandurii, 20:30 at the Netanya Stadium as the Yellow & Blue look to advance to the playoff round of the Europa League. Number 9 spoke about how Maccabi has been scoring, the match ahead and what they need to do in order to move along in the competition:

“Nothing is ever certain in football. We had a good result away and I hope that we’ll finish the job off this evening against Pandurii at home and advance to the next round.”

Tonight’s match:

“Once a match begins it can go in any different direction. Every team has a unique style but we always want to put our stamp on the match, play our game and get the best possible result.”

Scoring in a variety of ways:

“It’s definitely great for the fans and it allows us to score in a number of ways, but we’ll take a goal on the line or an own goal as long as we win the contest.”

The Bosnian assist maker

Haris Medunjanin proudly sits atop the Maccabi Tel Aviv assist leader list in the Europa League qualifying campaign. So far the Bosnian has three assists after returning for a second go around at Kiryat Shalom and on the pitch, he certainly finds himself in the thick of the club’s statistics.

Looking at the first meeting between Maccabi and Pandurii, the midfielder who played 69 minutes certainly recorded some nice numbers. In terms of the attacking side of the game, Medunjanin was second amongst Maccabi players with 64 offensive actions (Dor Micha had 65), however, with a 90% success rate, Haris was number one in accuracy.

Another terrific statistic was his passing accuracy (second to Dor Peretz who has substantially less passes) which included going 4/5 on long efforts as one of them led to the first goal of the game from winger Tal Ben Chaim.

Medunjanin also found himself on the receiving end of the most passes tied with Dor Micha having his teammates feed him the ball 47 times over the course of the match.

Audi TT

We all know how Tal Ben Chaim can rip apart a defense. The Yellow & Blue number 11 knows exactly what to do to get by the opposition with his fantastic technical ability while frustrating the defensive backs in his path. However, what does Maccabi get as a result of his fast break ability along with his speed?

Tal Ben Chaim knows how to draw fouls and did exactly that five times against Pandurii including one that led to Nosa Igiebor’s goal. In Maccabi’s other matches so far in Europa League qualifying, Ben Chaim leads all Yellow & Blue players when it comes to the referee whistling for a foul with many leading to quality set piece scoring opportunities.

Take a look at the chart of Tal Ben Chaim’s actions from the match in Romania as the top half of the table represents the opposition’s side of the pitch. As you can see, the majority of the winger’s play is on the left side in Pandurii’s half of the field.

All the colors of the rainbow

Set piece, counter and a long ball. These are some of Maccabi’s most important aspects showing how versatile they are when scoring goals especially in the Pandurii match. Igiebor’s header from Medunjanin’s free kick, the Bosnian’s long ball to Ben Chaim and Ben Basat’s assist to Dor Micha on a counter.

If we add the fact that Maccabi also scores goals near the end of matches (Benayoun against Kairat, Gal Alberman’s late strike, etc…), Shota Arveladze can be content with the versatility of his squad when it comes to finding the back of the goal, especially after the Pamdurii match.

Three on three

• Gal Alberman was first when it came to battling for the ball, winning 13 out of 17 opportunities. If we look at his ground battles, he was even more successful taking 12 out of 14.
  
• If the captain led the team on the ground, Nosa Igiebor was its leader in the air winning four aerial battles out of six.
• Keeper Predrag Rajikovic’s three first half saves helped Maccabi keep the match tight. His repertoire included parrying the ball before hitting the ground, a massive one-on-one save from in close and a gigantic leap to tip the ball away from a set piece by the Romanian side.

Maccabi Tel Aviv is happy to announce that a partnership agreement has been signed with the Irani Family and the Italian designer brand, Armani Collezioni for the upcoming two years.

The Irani Family which owns the fashion chain Factory 54 are the importers of the Armani Group in Israel. The prestigious brand will be the official suit partner of the Club for the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons as the players, professional staff and managerial staff will wear suits tailored specifically to each of their measurements.

The Armani Collezioni also sponsors other top clubs around the world including English Premier League outfit Manchester United and Italian side Milan.

Gal Alberman, the veteran Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder discussed Thursday’s match against Pandurii and also talked about playing under new coach Shota Arveladze, the Europa League, transfers and adapting to change:

“There have been changes in the team but we are adjusting to them and we are always prepared for whatever changes may come in the future. The challenge that we have in front of us is continuing to improve and obtain good results.”

The dressing room:

“Six years ago I was rumored to join many teams and as you know football is a dynamic sport. Everyone is working hard and any situation can change at the last second. That’s what I try to give over to all of the players.”

Advancing in the Europa League:

“It’s hard to talk about the next stage because we aren’t there yet. Advancing to the group stage is our goal but it’s not easy. It’s a long and difficult path.”

About the coach’s expectations:

“I think that we are doing what the coach wants and it’s football. We are all doing our best and look to take his instructions and implement them as best as possible.”

Shota Arveladze, the Yellow & Blue boss discussed the upcoming Europa League third round second leg qualifying match against Pandurii. Last week, Maccabi defeated the Romanian outfit 3:1 in Drobeta-Turnu Severin on goals by Tal Ben Chaim, Dor Micha and Nosa Igiebior. The Georgian talked about the club’s play, what he’s learned about playing in Israel, the team’s goals and the upcoming match:

“The Romanians always have a good level, either the league or national team. If they don’t win it doesn’t mean they are bad. After the first goal last week we thought it would be an easy game but they ended up giving us a hard time. We have an advantage, that’s for sure and we feel good, but I want to see us play our best game to gain our confidence and we need to win in order to get to the next round. The league will be upon us soon and the Toto Cup is going on. We want to play our best game with our best team.”

On preparing his team for the match ahead:

“I have my own thoughts and things to do as to how to prepare my team. That’s exactly what I’ll do.”

Current goals and objectives:

“Every competition that we play in we want to do our best. That is Maccabi’s goal all of the time. The Toto Cup ends in December, the League Cup starts later so right now advancing to Europe is our target. We are fully focussed on this but we aren’t there yet. Football is hard and we have some tough weeks to come.”

Players who may be coming or going and how it may affect the team:

“We are playing with our best team and with our best players. I have to make a choice out of 20 some odd players who the best 11 are. I’m not looking ahead to what will be the next 24 hours but the transfer window is always open. This is football.”

About Shlomi Azoulay’s conditioning:

“The conditioning comes with the games and he trains hard every day. He’s a professional and is doing what he needs to.”

Getting into shape:

“The boys are getting in shape and the weather is not great, but they are gaining their tempo and they are improving. Their conditioning is getting better game by game. Younger players may have some ups and downs, but when you get older you have more experience as to how and play.”

Playing football in Israel:

“You have to let the ball run longer than you run because you may have a hard time with the heat.”

The defensive side of the club’s game:

“Everyone wants a clean sheet but as a team we want to score more. We are concentrating on that and we are an offense team. We will continue to get better defensively.”

Last but not least:

“I want to wish Hapoel Beer Sheva good luck in their Champions League qualifying match.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv continues on their way in Toto Cup action as they open up next week with a Matchday Three encounter against Bnei Yehuda at the Moshava Stadium on Sunday August 7th, 21:00. Maccabi Tel Aviv fans will be seated in sections 10, 11, 13.

Tickets may be purchased through the Leaan Ticket Agency Ticket Office, 101 Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv, through their Website or by telephone *8780.

Ticket prices:

Telephone/Website
General Ticket – 60 NIS
Silver Section – 115 NIS

Leaan Ticket Office
General Ticket – 55 NIS
Silver Section – 110 NIS

Matchday at the Stadium Box Office (Should tickets remain)
General Ticket – 50 NIS
Silver Section – 100 NIS

Ticket Collection:

Leaan Ticket Office 101 Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv Sunday-Thursday between 09:00-19:00, Friday 09:00-13:30.

On Matchday at the Stadium Box Office beginning 3 hours prior to the match until 45 minutes after the start of the match.