It's been 23 years since Maccabi Tel Aviv began playing in European competition back when the UEFA Champions League was called the "European Cup". Now the Yellow-and-Blue are about to return to the island country where it all be began in 1992
June 2, 1992. Maccabi Tel Aviv put the final stamp on the 1991/92 Israeli league season with a 4:1 victory over Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle at Ramat Gan Stadium in the last match of the season. The win sealed a first place finish with a commanding 13-point lead over second place Bnei Yehuda.
August 19, 1992. Maccabi Tel Aviv became the first Israeli team to compete in a European competition as the club under head coach Avram Grant headed to play the Maltese champions, Valletta.
Amazingly, after 23 years and Maccabi's historic first match in European play, the club will head back to Malta but instead of playing Valletta, they'll face Hibernians FC. It was fitting for Maccabi coached by Avram Grant to be the first Israeli club in history to represent the country in this auspicious competition.
The Ta'Qali Stadium in the center of Malta hosted 1,500 fans who watched the Israeli Champions play the "White Warriors" of Valletta, however Maccabi proved to be up to the task. The match was played in the middle of a summer day as both sides had to deal with 36 degree heat and extreme humidity.
The hosts made sure to put a physical mark on the match right away as Maltese defender Raymond Briffa tackled Avi Nimni in an attempt to intimidate Maccabi. As Valletta kept playing a physical battle with the Yellow-and-Blue, the Israeli visitors turned up their play a notch and began producing chance after chance attempting to beat goalkeeper Charles Cortis. However, it was Valletta who opened the scoring as Jesmond Zerafa capitalized on a defensive mistake by Amir Shelach to give the hosts a 1:0 lead.
Zerafa's goal was quickly cancelled out as an 81st minute Itzik Zohar corner kick was headed into the Valletta goal by Avi Cohen, the Jerusalemite to even up the score. Maccabi continued to apply pressure and in the 87th minute it was Avi Cohen again who factored in the second goal by assisting on Avi Nimni's winner. Cohen's deep pass to the budding star was perfectly placed onto his feet as Nimni cleanly beat the goalkeeper to give Maccabi their first European victory in their first European match!
