The Yellow & Blue took home the victory and three points against Bnei Yehuda to draw even with Hapoel Beer Sheva at the top of the table thanks to goals by Barak Itzhaki and Vidar Kjartansson. Maccabi will now get ready for the second leg Quarterfinal clash versus Maccabi Petach Tikva on Wednesday night.

Head Coach Lito Vidigal went with the same Starting XI from last Matchday as Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic was in goal along with Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Tal Ben Haim and Captain Sheran Yeini in front of him. Gal Alberman was the defensive midfielder with Ruben Micael and Dor Micha playing beside him while Tal Ben Chaim, Barak Itzhaki and Vidar Kjartansson provided the attack up front.

Available on the bench for the Angolan boss were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Eliel Peretz, Yossi Benayoun, Marcelo dos Santos, Egor Filipenka, Oscar Scarione, Yuval Shpungin.

First Half
Maccabi began the match with plenty of gusto and took an early lead by the 10th minute. Defender Ben Haim sent Micael the ball who threaded the needle right to Itzhaki who found the far corner and the back of the goal to give the Yellow & Blue a 1:0 lead. Micha almost doubled the score a minute later but his attempt went out.

Winger Ben Chaim produced the next chance minutes after that but his intelligent chip hit the bar while in the 21st minute a double pass between Micha and Micael ended with a chance by the Portugal native but the Bnei Yehuda keeper Haikin pushed the ball away for a corner.

Bnei Yehuda then took control of the match as the visitors looked for the equalizer and in the 37th minute they almost found it via Roie Gordana but his effort missed the mark. Two minutes later, Itzhaki tried his luck again from 22 meters out but Haikin was in the right place to make the save as the sides went into the break with Maccabi holding a 1:0 lead.

Second Half
The Yellow & Blue looked to get another goal on the board and almost did exactly that when Micael sent Dasa a terrific ball, but the defender’s tough angle shot missed the target while two minutes later Micha’s 20-meter attempt was caught by the keeper. In the 64th minute, Micael gave Ben Chaim a brilliant ball but his chance went over the goal.

Bnei Yehuda began taking control of the contest but Coach Vidigal made a number of substitutions inserting Oscar Scarione, Eliel Peretz and Yossi Benayoun who helped Maccabi regain possession. Finally in the 92nd minute Kjaratansson sealed the deal as Benayoun gave Micha a nice ball who in turn crossed it to the Icelander and found the back of the goal for a 2:0 win.