If Maccabi Tel Aviv win their final match of the season against Bnei Yehuda tomorrow night, their home win percentage this season will stand at a remarkable 90.7%. This season's farewell encounter, by the numbers
5 – is the number of goals Bnei Yehuda have scored in their three encounters with Maccabi Tel Aviv this season, more than any other club in the Israeli Premier League. Bnei Sakhnin and Hapoel Acre are the only two clubs who, in their two league encounters each, have failed to score against Maccabi Tel Aviv altogether.
10 – is the number of goals Maccabi Tel Aviv have scored this season from outside the area, one of them being the dramatic late winner by young midfielder Moshe Lugassi in Maccabi's 2-3 win over Bnei Yehuda earlier in the season. The goal scored at the greatest distance from the net this season was Maharan Radi's free kick at Bnei Sakhnin, at a distance of 27 metres.
12 – Maccabi Tel Aviv are the 12th League Champions since the establishment of the State of Israel who have sealed the title three or more games before the end of the season. Of those title winners, only three have managed to do so without a losing a match all season: Maccabi Netanya in 1983, Maccabi Tel Aviv in 1992 and Maccabi Haifa in 2006.
15 – is the number of Maccabi Tel Aviv players who have scored one or more goals this season. Only once, in the 2004/5 season, has that total been greater, and then only by one – sixteen.
16 – If Maccabi Tel Aviv win their match tomorrow night against Bnei Yehuda, it will be their 16th home win of the season, with one draw and just a single defeat, a remarkable winning percentage of 90.7%.
49 – is the number of players who have played part of their careers at both Maccabi Tel Aviv and Bnei Yehuda. Five of them were goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama, Liran Shtrauber, Raffi Cohen, Bonni Ginzburg and Shmuel Melika.
78 – is the number of goals Maccabi Tel Aviv have scored so far on the eve of the season's final match. The largest number of goals scored by any Maccabi Tel Aviv side since the 1960's stands at 82, in the 1991/2 season.
120 – is the number of league encounters between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Bnei Yehuda all told. The balance sheet so far is 53 wins to Maccabi, 36 to Bnei Yehuda, with 30 of the matches ending in draws. Goal difference is 175 to 132, also in Maccabi's favour.
10,900 – is the average number of spectators who have attended Maccabi Tel Aviv matches this season. That is the largest average number of spectators per game of any Maccabi team since the 1978/79 season.
And, as always, one anecdote to finish things off: There is a tendency for champions to "doze off" after securing the title, with impressive results in the goal scoring department a rarity after that Championship plate has been lifted. Hapoel Petah Tikva did it in 1963 with a 7-1 thrashing of Maccabi Haifa. Haifa was also on the wrong end of a 5-1 drubbing to champions Maccabi Tel Aviv in 1992. For Maccabi Tel Aviv that was two times a charm, since they had first achieved the same scoreline against Hapoel Ramat Gan in 1952. In 1994 Maccabi Haifa joined this exclusive club with a 4-1 trouncing of Hapoel Kfar Saba. Then champions Maccabi Netanya won by the same score against Hapoel Beer Sheva in 1980 and last Monday night Maccabi Tel Aviv added a 4-2 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Derby.
Courtesy Yaron Mishal