As the final whistle sounded in a 2:0 win over Beitar Jerusalem, Peter Bosz’s players heard that Eyal Meshumar had scored for Haifa to defeat Beer Sheva 2:1 setting up final Matchday drama next week. The Captain, Eran Zahavi discussed the results following the match:

“Their chances were good going into the match and they still are as we head into next week, but our chances improved, we have to defeat Haifa next week and then we can see what will happen.”

His interest in the match at Sammy Ofer during the game against Beitar Jerusalem:

“We came into this match focussing just on ourselves. Once we scored our first goal and after we scored our second we definitely wanted to know what was going on at Sammy Ofer. I’m happy that we still have a chance to take the title if Beer Sheva doesn’t win. They won’t have an easy time against Sakhnin as it’s never simple playing them. We have to do what we need to and hope that they slip up.”

About next week’s match:

“As a footballer, I give it all on the pitch and there are a lot of emotions, but as I said we have to do our job. Everyone can see that it wasn’t easy for Beer Sheva and I hope that we will do what we can. I wish we can play Haifa tomorrow.”

The Yellow & Blue celebrated a hard earned victory at Teddy Stadium on goals by Eran Zahavi and Haris Medunjanin giving Maccabi a chance to win the league title next week as Beer Sheva lost at Haifa 2:1 with the gap to first place now standing at only 2-points.

Head Coach Peter Bosz made wholesale changes to his usual starting XI with Yoav Ziv, Eden Ben Basat, Nosa Igiebor, Barak Itzhaki and Oliel Peretz all handed first team shirts for the contest. Eitan Tibi and Carlos Garcia shored up the defense while Haris Medunjanin and Dor Micha manned the midfield with Captain Eran Zahavi up front and Predrag Rajikovic in goal for the Yellow & Blue.

Medunjanin had the match’s first chance in the 2nd minute but his 18 meter effort was saved by rookie keeper Stav Shoshan to keep it goalless early on. Beitar’s Dutch winger Arsenio Valpoort tried his luck twice in the 11th minute but was stoned both times by Maccabi’s Serbian keeper.

As the match headed into the 19th minute Maccabi had a wonderful opportunity to take the lead. Micha’s deep pass found Zahavi but Shoshan stopped him again while Itzhaki couldn’t get to the ball in time as Elad Gabbay cleared it to safety. Rajikovic was then called upon to come up big sending Itay Shecter’s one on one chance out for a corner.

In the 34th minute, Shoshan was in the right place to send Zahavi’s 20 meter free kick to safety as the sides headed into the break deadlocked at 0:0.

Eden Ben Basat opened the second half with a fantastic opportunity from in close but couldn’t find the back of the Beitar goal while Igiebor’s long range blast was grabbed yet again by Jerusalem’s young keeper.

But finally in the 57th minute, Igiebor was pulled down in the box by Jesus Rueda who was shown a straight red card giving Maccabi a golden opportunity to score from the spot which is exactly what the Captain, Eran Zahavi did from 11 meters. 1:0 Maccabi.

Coach Bosz made his first substitute of the evening in the 66th minute as Shlomi Azulay came on for Igiebor to freshen up the midfield. Ben Basat came up huge for Maccabi in the 71st minute when he slid in to take away the ball from a wide open Valpoort to keep the Yellow & Blue in the lead.

Zahavi looked to add an insurance marker but his one on one attempt was stopped by Shoshan while Peretz’s short range chance from the left side was blocked by the Beitar keeper in the 75th minute. Bosz then made his second change of the match inserting Tal Ben Chaim for Ben Basat to help his side find another marker.

Peretz and Itzhaki each had golden opportunities but the former’s shot from the left side was saved by Shoshan and the latter’s went way over the bar as Bosz subbed out Itzaki with 5 minutes remaining for Dor Peretz.

However, as the match hit the 90th minute Medunjanin sent a terrific ball over Shoshan and into the Beitar goal from the top of the box to seal the deal for a 2:0 win as the Yellow & Blue head into Matchday 36 with the Championship still in reach after Beer Sheva fell in Haifa 2:1.

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Eitan Tibi spoke about his team’s 1:1 draw with Hapoel Raanana that increased Beer Sheva’s lead to five points at the top of the table. The Yellow-and-Blue central defender also touched upon his status for next year, what the club has gone through the past month along with the match and State Cup Final:

“Unfortunately we gave up a goal that may have been offside and we just didn’t want it enough. To draw four matches in a row is just not good enough at this point of the season. We still have the State Cup Final coming up which is important and we also have two more matches that we have to get ready for and help us prepare for the State Cup final.”

Summing up the year?

“We have to make sure we are prepared for the last couple of matches and the State Cup, so until that happens I don’t want to sum up the year.”

His contract situation for next season:

“If there is anything new I’ll let you know. I don’t know if I will stay but I would like to stay here and I’ve said this a number of times. I hope that things will work out.”

The past month:

“We had to deal with some things over the past little while that I don’t think we needed to deal with but we had to concentrate on our results and not the other clubs. Unfortunately we got caught up a bit in that and we will have to learn from these experiences.”

The incident after the first half with Eran Zahavi:

“I like Eran a lot and I have a lot of respect for him. We spoke about what happened in them lockerroom and everything is fine now.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv couldn’t contain their disappointment after the 1:1 draw with Hapoel Raanana that saw Beer Sheva’s lead grow to five points with two matches remaining in the season.

The Captain Eran Zahavi said at the conclusion of the match: “There is still a chance for us to win the championship, but you have to give credit to Beer Sheva. They deserve to win the title. If you draw four straight matches at the end of campaign it’s a problem. We’re not the first team to lose the championship after playing in the Champions League. But all in all I’m proud of the club and my teammates as we had a pretty good year. We put up some good numbers but Beer Sheva did better than we did and they deserve it.”

About the last month:

“We had to cope with a bunch of things this past month that maybe we shouldn’t have been dealing with. But as soon as you feel that the whole world is against you, this is what happens. I’m not making up excuses but we didn’t do what we needed to.”

On what happened at the break between Zahavi and Tibi:

“This is not the first time that these things happen in football. If you could’ve brought the cameras into the lockerroom you would have seen us hugging and making up because this is really not how we act. Our emotions overcame us but we knew how to calm down very quickly.”

The pressure and nerves from the game:

“I don’t think that we were nervous and I tried to encourage and root on the players. There nothing you can do. There was pressure and I couldn’t score the goals that I needed to score. What can you do, I’m only human. It’s not normal for me to go four matches without scoring but it happens.”