A superb display by Maccabi Tel Aviv resulted in a 4-2 triumph over Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League. Eran Zahavi and Barak Itzhaki shared the honours with a brace each
Tonight Maccabi Tel Aviv booked a highly impressive 4-2 win over Budesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt in their fourth match of the Europa League group stage. The Israeli reigning champions opened the match with utter decisiveness and with less than a quarter of an hour on the clock midfielder Eran Zahavi pounced on a ball in the Eintacht area and struck past Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp to give the home side an early 1-0 lead. Fourteen minutes later Maccabi striker Barak Itzhaki celebrated half an hour of match play by rising for a long ball by defender Omri Ben Harush and heading it past Trapp to double the Maccabi advantage to 2-0. Five minutes later it was Itzhaki once again who mastered a ball in the poorly defended Frankfurt area and deftly struck it into the opposition net for a 3-0 lead. For the final ten minutes of the half, Frankfurt managed to keep the yellow tide at bay but a masterly Maccabi defensive display ensured that Maccabi's German opponents were completely unable to build up a head of steam themselves.
After the restart the German's regained some of their composure and applied sufficient pressure to get two goals on the scoreboard. Twenty minutes into the second half Croatian forward Srdan Lakić headed a ball in the Maccabi box that struck ground and dribbled its way past Maccabi keeper Juan Pablo to reduce the home-side margin to two goals at 3-1. Three minutes later the Belgian referee Serge Gumienny pointed to the spot after Maccabi skipper Sheran Yeini was adjudged to have handled a long ball in the Frankfurt area and veteran midfielder Alexander Meier made easy work of closing the gap to a single goal at 3-2. A nervous twenty minutes awaited the Maccabi Tel Aviv faithful as Frankfurt continued to press, unsuccessfully, for the equaliser. But as the matchclock ran out the scoreline remained intact and in time added on Maccabi were themselves awarded a penalty which Eran Zehavi converted with an almost nonchalant chip that flew over the head of a helpless Kevin Trap to seal Maccabi Tel Aviv's historic victory at 4-2 .
With their second victory of the European campaign, Maccabi now maintain a firmer grip on second place in Europa League Group F with seven points, just two points behind tonight's vanquished group leaders Eintracht Frankfurt. In the next round on November 28th Maccabi will play away at third-placed Cypriot challengers APOEL Nicosia.
