Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Bnei Sakhnin 4-1 courtesy of a brace from Eran Zahavi and individual efforts by Nikola Mitrovic and Munas Dabbur
After their Europa League travels to Frankfurt, Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to league duties tonight playing at home in Bloomfield Stadium to Bnei Sakhnin in matchweek seven of the Israeli Premier League. With just two minutes of the match gone, Sakhnin striker Mohammed Kalibat attempted to surprise Juan Pablo with a powerful long-range shot but the Maccabi keeper was found ready. Maccabi were determined not to wait for a second Sakhnin effort, as barely two minutes later defender Manuel Ortiz (Manne) broke down the left flank and found Eran Zehavi in the area who bundled his feed past Sakhnin keeper Mahmoud Kandil to put Maccabi in front 1-0. That only put Maccabi's star midfielder in the mood for more and just past the quarter hour mark it was Zahavi again, this time from an awarded free kick which he shot straight into the Sakhnin net to double Maccabi's early advantage. Maccabi continued to dominate proceedings on the pitch and four minutes from half time Maccabi's Serbian midfielder Nikola Mitrovic subdued a ball some 25 metres from the goal and let fly with a superb shot that slammed into the upper corner of the net making it 3-0 for the home side. And then, with the half approaching its official end, Sakhnin midfielder Hamad Ganayim broke into the Maccabi area and shot past an onrushing Juan Pablo, marking the end of 585 minutes of league play in which Maccabi Tel Aviv had not yet conceded a goal this season.
The second half also opened with a flurry of activity on the pitch and only seven minutes after the restart Maccabi's young international striker Munas Dabbur found room inside the area to fire a powerful shot past keeper Kandil into the Sakhnin net to finish off the scoring at 4-1. Maccabi continued to dominate and press forward, with both defender Eytan Tibi and and striker Tal Ben Haim seeing chances to find the net, but without success. Two minutes from time Bnei Sakhnin were reduced to ten men when midfielder Ravid Gazal was shown a straight red card for bringing down Omri Altman from behind as the young Maccabi midfielder charged towards the Sakhnin area.
Next Monday at 9pm Maccabi will head south to the Negev desert to face current highflyers Hapoel Beer Sheva in matchweek eight of the Israeli Premier League.
