Two quick goals by Eden Ben Basat and Yossi Benayoun sealed the Derby early on as Maccabi defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 2:0 as they now turn their sights on the Europa League playoff round first leg on Thursday night against Hajduk Split.
Head Coach Shota Arveladze mixed up his Toto Cup Starting XI against the Reds as Rajikovic started in goal while Avi Rikan, Yuval Shpungin, Tal Ben Haim and Egor Filipenko played in front of the Serbian shot stopper. Eyal Golasa, Eliel Peretz and Yossi Benayoun were in the midfield with a strikeforce of acting captain Barak Itzhaki, Eden Ben Basat and Orlando Sa played up front.
First Half
The Yellow & Blue opened up the match strong as they scored two goals by the 11th minute. With nine minutes gone, Rikan sent Ben Basat a beauty of a free kick from the right side of the box that number 9 headed behind Harush while two minutes later Itzhaki passed Benayoun a perfect ball in the area that the veteran stopped with his chest and then pounded into the goal for a quick two goal advantage.
Maccabi tried to add another goal before the halftime whistle but the give and go between Itzhaki and Golasa resulted in the latter’s effort from 16 meters going over the goal as the sides headed for the break with the Yellow & Blue up 2:0.
Second Half
Coach Arveladze made one substitution to open the half as Eitan Tibi was introduced in favor of Filipenko. In the 50th minute Hapoel had the first chance of half number two as Demir Subsic came in off of the left wing passed the ball to Shmuel Shaiman who gave Omri Altman a magnificent pass in the box but Rajikovic was able to get a hand on the ball before it crossed the line.
Ten minutes later Rajikovic made a brilliant one-one-one save against Sagiv Yehezkel to keep his clean sheet intact. A minute later Maccabi made a pair of changes bringing in Dor Peretz who took the captain’s armband and Oscar Scarione for Itzhaki and Shpungin.
In the 68th minute Rikan swung a ball into the box from the left side but Sa’s wild header went over the goal while one minute later Tal Ben Chaim came into the contest in favor of Benayoun. Gal Alberman joined the fray in the 77th minute as the defensive midfielder replaced Ben Basat.
Dor Peretz attempted a long shot from the right side but the ball just went wide of the left post and out in the 84th minute as Maccabi took the first Derby of the 2016/17 season 2:0.
