The Yellow-and-Blue made sure to begin 2016 just as they ended 2015 with a win this time 2:0 over Hapoel Raanana at the Netanya Stadium. Captain Eran Zahavi picked up his first goal of the new calendar year, while Avi Rikan doubled the score in the second half.
Interim coach Javi Periera made a few changes in the starting XI that featured in the 5:0 win over Kiryat Shemona last week at Bloomfield Stadium. Veteran central defender Tal Ben Haim played in place of Carlos Garcia who was unavailable due to yellow card accumulation, while Dor Peretz and Avi Rikan returned to the starting lineup in favor of 
Nikola Mitrovic and Nosa Igiebor. Predrag Rajkovic featured in goal with Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi and Omri Ben Harush joining Ben Haim in front of him. Gal Alberman took his usual defensive midfielder spot with Rikan and Peretz beside him. The same attacking trio in Dor Micha, Dejan Radonjic and captain Eran Zahavi started up front.
Maccabi had the first couple of chances in the match as Zahavi’s 8th minute 18 meter free kick and Ben Harush’s long range effort ten minutes later were saved by Raanana keeper Arik Yanko. However, Zahavi didn’t have to wait much longer to score his first goal of 2016 when he pounced on Snir Shocker’s error and put the ball into the Raanana goal to give Maccabi a 24th minute 1:0 lead.
It was then time for the hosts to show their quality with a couple of opportunities just minutes later. The first came from former Yellow-and-Blue striker Barak Badash whose attempt was cleared off the line by Peretz and the second from Evans Kangwa as his 
effort just went wide of the left post as the half ended with Maccabi holding a 1:0 advantage.
With heavy rains coming down, Maccabi came out of break looking for a chance to double the score and they did just that when Rikan picked up a loose ball in the box and slammed it home to give his side a 2:0 lead in the 59th minute. The Yellow-and-Blue made a number of substitutions in search of a third goal bringing on Shlomi Azulay, Barak Itzhaki and Nikola Mitrovic but it was not to be as the Yellow-and-Blue picked up the 3-points in a 2:0 away win.
Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Maccabi Haifa at Bloomfield Stadium on Matchday 18, Sunday, January 10th at 20:55. Keep up to date on the latest Yellow-and-Blue news by downloading the brand new App available at the App Store and Google Play.
