The Yellow & Blue defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva as Dor Peretz’s 44’ goal gave Maccabi the 3-points and guaranteed them a place in the Europa League qualifiers which will begin in July. Maccabi Tel Aviv’s win also marked the first time that Hapoel Beer Sheva lost at their home stadium. Tuesday will be Jordi’s last home match with the club as the Yellow & Blue are just 2 points away from second place Beitar Jerusalem whom they will host.
Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI included keeper Predrag Rajikovic, Eli Dasa, Tal Ben Haim, Jean-Sylvain Babin, Ofir Davidzada, Dor Peretz, Sheran Yeini (C), Eyal Golasa, Omer Atzily, Dor Micha and Nock Blackman.
Available on the bench were Daniel Tenenbaum, Barak Itzhaki, Jose Rodriguez, Vidar Kjartansson, Aaron Schoenfeld, Eitan Tibi and Avi Rikan.
First Half
Beer Sheva took control of the pace of play early on, but Micha helped turn that around as he found Blackman a couple of times but his chances missed the target.
Following a pair of attempts by John Ogu and Tony Nwakaeme in the box, Blackman had a huge chance in the 32’ as he made his way past the Beer Sheva keeper Guy Haimov who came out of the area, but the tough angled shot just missed the far post and went out.
In the 44’ Maccabi took control of the ball at midfield and Peretz unleashed a right footed screamer that hit the bar and bounced behind Haimov into the goal for a 1:0 Maccabi lead at the break.
Second Half
Beer Sheva pressed Maccabi to begin the second half but couldn’t produce a quality chance on Rajikovic. In the 59’ the Yellow & Blue almost doubled their lead when Dasa sent the ball to Blackman whose header hit the bar and Al Hamid cleared it from the line.
In the 66’ Atzily was replaced by Aaron Schoenfeld as Maccabi’s first substitution. Five minutes later, Blackman missed a fine chance from 3 meters after taking a cross from Schoenfeld. Avi Rikan came on for Dor Micha in the 80’ as the Yellow & Blue were able to keep the score as is to take home the 3-points and become the first team to defeat Beer Sheva at their home stadium while also claiming a spot in Europa League qualification.
