Preview
Maccabi returned to the Partizan stadium in Belgrade for the MD3 home match against Real Sociedad aiming to record their first victory of the new Europa League format. After suffering a late 2-1 defeat away to Sporting Braga in Portugal and a 2-0 defeat to Danish side FC Midtjylland in Belgrade earlier this month, Zarko Lazetic whose side are currently ranked 32nd face one of the toughest opponents in the league. Despite being ranked 25th with 1 point following a defeat to Anderlecht and a draw with Nice, Real Sociedad, has a squad packed with internationals. In their domestic La Liga, the team from the Basque country are currently 11th in the table with 12 points from 10 matches having won 3, drawn 3 and lost four. Sociedad scored only 8 goals in the league but at the same time have a tight defense that conceded the same amount as well.
Lazetic made several changes from the side that beat Maccabi Haifa in the league at the weekend while Roi Mishpati who had a man of the match performance at Teddy stadium kept his place in goal. Raz Shlomo and Nemanja Stojic were named as the two central defenders in front of Mishpati. Stav Lemkin on the right and Ofir Davidzada on the left completed Maccabi’s back-four. Ido Shahar made his first start since recovering from a knee injury as he slotted into the midfield to join Issouf Sissokho, Gabi Kanichowsky and Dor Peretz in Maccabi’s midfield engine room. Wesley Patati on his first European start was assigned to a more attacking role. Elad Madmon led the line and spearheaded Maccabi’s attack aiming to continue his good run of form.
On the bench, goalkeeper Simon Sluga, made the squad for the first time in Europe alongside Avishay Cohen, Idan Nachmias, Tyrese Asante, Dor Turgeman, Sagiv Jehezkel, Joris van Overeem, Yonas Malede, Henry Addo, Hisham Layous, Nir Bitton and Osher Davida.
First Half
Maccabi enjoyed a bright start to the match with Patati and Elad Madmon looking dangerous through the channels but Real Sociredad’s defense managed to deal with those threats. In the 10th minute Takefusa Kubo’s trickery earned the visitors a free kick in a dangerous position between the corner flag and box but Stav Lemkin headed away the cross which was sent into the area. Two minutes later Sociedad’s Japanese winger was booked for fouling Madmon and stopping a Maccabi counter attack.
In the 19th minute Sociedad were awarded a controversial corner from which they scored and took the lead as Jon Pacheco rose above Maccabi’s defense to head in Brais Mendez’ cross. Sociedad came close to double the score in the 24th minute Mikel Oyarzabal slipped the ball in for Umar Sadiq but Roi Mishapti charged off his line to block the Nigerian’s attempt. Two minutes later Dor Peretz was pulled down inside the area with no reaction from Norwegian referee Rohit Saggi. Patati reacted first to the lose ball but his weak left foot shot was easily collected by goalkeeper Unai Marrero. Patati went into the referee’s book for a challenge on Kubo in the 37th minute. Ido Shahar had a shot blocked by a defender a minute later with Issouf Sissokho’s shot from the rebound sailed wide of the target. Kubo continued to be a threat and on the 44th minute fired a shot from a tight angle forcing Mishpati to punch the ball out for a corner.
Second half
With no changes to either side after the interval Maccabi began the second half just like they did with the first. In the 51st minute Patati broke into the Sociedad box from the right and sent a cross which was cleared into the path of Gabi Kanichowsky whose initial effort was blocked before Patati’s shot cleared the crossbar.
Maccabi continued their good spell as a cross which was sent into the box saw Madmon narrowly miss the target with a close range header on 54. Just like the first half Maccabi conceded from a corner right on the hour mark as the defense and Mishpati couldn’t clear the ball allowing Sadiq to fire home with the goal at his mercy. But VAR intervened, called the referee to the screen as the goal was disallowed keeping the score at 1-0. Four minutes later however a quick Sociedad counter attack saw two of their substitutes combine as Sheraldo Becker charged down the right before his square ball was turned in by Sergio Gomez.
Kubo tore through Maccabi’s defense and sent his shot wide in the 69th minute before
Lazetic reacted with four substitutions. Ofir Davidzada, Sissokho, Shahar and Dor Peretz all bowed out and were replaced by Sagiv Jehezkel, Joris van Overeem, Henry Addo and Osher Davida in the 70th minute. Addo could have made an immediate impact after being teed up by Kanichowsky only to send his right foot shot from the edge of te area high and wide. Lazetic made his fifth and final substitution as Dor Turgeman came on for Madmon for the closing stages.
Van Overeem was also booked by the referee for a foul on Sadiq in the 81st minute. A minute later Maccabi cut the deficit as Davida crossed the ball from the right before Turgeman rose above the Sociedad defense to celebrate his 21st birthday with his sixth goal in all competitions. In the 88th minute Davida who was booked earlier on for dissent, was sent off for two bookable offences a fact which will see him miss out on the next match away to Ajax in Amsterdam.
