Trailing 2-1 with just under five minutes left on the match clock, Maccabi Tel Aviv staged a dramatic comeback as Eran Zahavi scored twice to hand the city's yellow half a spectacular 2-3 derby victory
In what surely will be regarded as one of the most dramatic matches in the club's recent history, and certainly of the current season, 10-man Maccabi Tel Aviv came back from a goal down to beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 2-3 in the Tel Aviv derby courtesy of two goals from midfielder Eran Zahavi in the dying moments of the match, the second three minutes into injury time. Leading 0-1 from the first of Zahavi's three goals on the night just past the half hour mark, Maccabi were reduced to ten men when striker Rade Prica was sent off five minutes later. Ten minutes after that Hapoel Tel Aviv were back into the match courtesy of their gifted striker and the league's leading goalscorer Omer Damari. Despite being a man down throughout the second half, Maccabi defended bravely until three minutes from time a penalty awarded to Hapoel was skillfully taken, again by Damari, for what looked like the game-winning goal. But a minute later Maccabi themselves were awarded a penalty and Eran Zahavi, scoring in his fourth consecutive derby, stepped up to the spot to draw the sides level. Then, in what would prove to be the final moment of the match, Zahavi produced his magic once again, slamming a precision pass by striker Barak Badash past Hapoel keeper Boris Klaiman to earn Maccabi their fifth straight derby win, one short of the all-time consecutive record. It also pushed them seven points ahead of their nearest rivals atop the Israeli Premier League and guaranteed the two Tel Aviv clubs will meet again in a week's time at the start of the Israeli Premier League's round of play-off matches.
Nothing of the opening moments of the match could foreshadow the drama that was ultimately to follow. The first half hour was played out largely in the centre of the pitch and nothing of import was recorded until Maccabi midfielder Nikola Mitrovic looped a ball into Eran Zahavi in front of goal but he missed the target by a whisker. Three minutes later fellow midfielder Dan Einbinder dispossessed an opponent in midfield and regaining the ball astutely passed on to Zahavi, who from an acute angle slammed the ball into the net between the legs of Boris Kleiman to put his side 0-1 up. But that was just the opening gambit in a drama that carried on just five minutes later when Maccabi striker Rade Prica pushed his elbow into the face of Hapoel's American midfielder Bryan Gerzicich and was red-carded for his efforts. Five minutes later the one-man Maccabi deficit began to show its effects, as Hapoel striker Omer Damari leapt over his marker in the area to head in a cross by midfielder Yisrael Zaguri past Maccabi keeper Juan Pablo to draw the teams level going into halftime.
In the second half Hapoel pressed their advantage to almost complete dominance and just three minutes after the restart Damari, from an angle similar to Zahavi's earlier goal, shot just past the far post. At the other end a pinpoint pass by Maccabi defender Remi Mareval found the ever active Zahavi slipping between two markers near the area, but the midfielder's final effort was blocked by Klaiman. Five minutes later it was Hapoel winger Gil Vermouth trying his luck from inside the area, but his shot, like Damari's, sliced past the far post. Hapoel continued to dominate but the pace slackened until seven minutes from time. Hapoel captain Shay Abutbul let fly from outside the area but Juan Pablo leapt high to tip the ball over the net. A minute later referee Eli Hachmon adjudged Juan Pablo to have brought down Omer Damari in the area and pointed to the spot. The striker himself took the penalty and with five minutes left Hapoel were in front 2-1.
But just when the outcome of the match seemed a foregone conclusion, the Maccabi front line came into action. Head coach Paulo Sousa sent on Tal Ben Haim and with his first move of the game the winger chased his own touch into the area and was brought down by Hapoel defender Orel Dagani. Man of the match, Eran Zahavi, wrong-footed Kleiman to convert the resultant penalty and the sides were level once again with less than two minutes left on the match clock. A moment later Maccabi's substitute striker Barak Badash, back-heeled to Ben Haim in the area but the latter's effort found Klaiman in its path. But then, three minutes into injury time, Maccabi captain Sheran Yeini intercepted a pass at the halfway mark and found Badash moving up the pitch. Badash passed wide to the inexhaustible Zahavi who shot past Klaiman into the far corner to complete his hat-trick and the 2-3 turnaround, bringing down the curtain on one of the greatest dramas in Tel Aviv derby history. And as befits a cast at the end of a great drama, the entire Maccabi bench, including a sprinting Paulo Sousa, came out on to the stage to celebrate with the show's finest performer, Eran Zahavi. But after all the applause have faded, all the actors, both the triumphant and the vanquished, will return to the scene of last night's drama to engage in yet another Tel Aviv derby as the Israeli Premier League play-off season gets underway in just a week's time.
