Maccabi Tel Aviv picked up three away goals in Romania as Tal Ben Chaim, Nosa Igiebor and Dor Micha all scored for the Yellow & Blue. However, the main story of the match was Predrag Rajikovic’s brilliant play, especially in the first half as he was voted Man of the Match by the followers of the Official Maccabi Tel Aviv Twitter Account @MaccabiTLV

Head Coach Shota Arveladze made one change to his Starting XI from the last match against Kairat inserting central defender Egor Filipenko in place of Tal Ben Haim as Eitan Tibi, Dor Peretz and Avi Rikan rounded out the balance of the Maccabi defense in front of keeper Predrag Rajikovic. Captain Gal Alberman was in his standard defensive midfield position with Nosa Igiebor and Haris Medunjanin by his side as winger Tal Ben Chaim, Dor Micha and Orlando Sa provided the attack.

First Half

After a bit of back and forth play to open up the match, Claudiu Volculet had the first chance of the contest as his sharp shot was parried away to safety at the last second by a diving Rajikovic just as the game hit the 4th minute.

However, it would be Ben Chaim who would score first as the winger picked up his second goal in as many games by following up on his own chance to beat keeper Razvan Stanca a 1:0 lead in the 7th minute.

In the 12 minute Rajikovic was called upon once again as the Serbian keeper made a wonderful save in a one on one situation against Filip Mrzljak to keep the score as is. But as the half moved along so did the home side as they evened the contest up on a gorgeous header by Ovidiu Herea in the 30th minute breaking through the Maccabi defense to put the ball behind a helpless Rajikovic.

In the 37th minute Rajikovic made yet another brilliant save tipping the ball over the bar as Pandurii continued to threaten the Maccabi goal. After Ben Chaim was issued a yellow card a minute later, Volculet received one of his own in the 43rd minute of play as the sides headed into the break knotted up at 1:1.

Second half

Igiebor, who had been dangerous all night long finally cashed in on a gorgeous Medunjanin free kick as the Nigerian’s header beat the Pandurii keeper to give the Yellow & Blue a 2:1 lead in the 49th minute.

After a pair of wholesale substitutions by Pandurii, Rajikovic was again in the right place at the right time just tapping away a dangerous opportunity by Ioan Hora to keep Maccabi ahead in the 64th minute. Sa had a close range opportunity in the 73rd minute but his effort went over the goal as the Portuguese striker was replaced two minutes later by Eden Ben Basat.

Coach Arveladze was looking for a third goal and found it on the feet of Dor Micha as number 15 easily slotted home the ball from the right side after a fine assist by Ben Basat in the 77th minute to give Maccabi a 3:1 advantage. Barak Itzhaki was then introduced one minute later in favor of the second goal scorer Nosa Igiebor to see if the Yellow & Blue could muster one more strike before the end of the game.

However, it was not to be as Maccabi will have to be satisfied with a 3:1 away victory in the first leg of Europa League third round qualifying. They’ll head home for a Toto Cup match on Sunday against Maccabi Petach Tikva and the second leg against Pandurii on Thursday August 4th.