1. The battle for a place in Europe: Maccabi Tel Aviv host’s Maccabi Netanya this evening on Matchday 33 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al as the two sides are battling head to head for a spot in the Europa League qualification rounds.

We followed Sheran Yeini as he recuperated from his injury, watch the clip:

Just as Hapoel Haifa moved into 3rd place, Jordi Cruyff’s squad will look to record their second Championship Playoff victory and move back into third place and more importantly create a bigger gap from Maccabi Netanya on the table – in essence this is a match worth 6 points.

2. The Captain is back: Last Matchday Maccabi Tel Aviv drew 2:2 against Hapoel Haifa at Sammy Ofer after leading 2:0. In the good news department, the Captain, Sheran Yeini will return to the squad after being out for 3 months.

You may recall that Yeini was a second half substitute in the match against Hapoel Beer Sheva back in February, but just minutes before the final whistle he injured his knee and went through a long recovery period. Eli Dasa and Dor Peretz will also be back in the squad after being out due to yellow card accumulation.

However, Barak Itzhaki, Aaron Schoenfeld (both out due to suspensions) and Cristian Battocchio (injury) will be unavailable for Cruyff this evening.

3. Just before finding out that he’ll be back in the squad, the Captain addressed the media at the prematch press conference ahead of tonight’s match: “We all have to lift ourselves up, the players, staff and fans. We are focused right now on the Netanya match and it’s crucial for us to secure our European spot which is the minimum we can do at this club.”

Watch the press conference:

Cruyff added: “Netanya will battle and we gave goals or reach.”

4. Netanya without Dia Saba:
For Netanya this is also an important game as Slobodan Drapic and Shay Barda are looking to also secure a European position. Their side currently sits in 5th place with 55 points, 4 behind Maccabi who are currently in 4th place.

Netanya will have to do without Dia Saba as the league’s top goal scorer will be out of action due to the red card he picked up against Beitar Jerusalem. Youngster Yomas Malede will also be unavailable due to yellow card accumulation.