Just ahead of the International break, Maccabi Tel Aviv has one more terrific clash when they visit Beitar Jerusalem this evening at 21:00 Israel Time at Teddy Stadium in the capital city. The contest will be the “Match of the Week” on Matchday 6 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika.

In the video: When Maccabi met Beitar 24 years ago

Vladimir Ivic’s side comes into the game after a goalless Derby draw last week and are in 2nd place with 11 out of a possible 15 points. Just before the match at Teddy, table leaders Hapoel Hadera will face Kiryat Shemona and should they lose points, the Yellow & Blue could take over the top spot with 3 points and a win. Last night, Maccabi continued preparations as owner Mitch Goldhar attended the final training session after arriving in Israel on Friday.

Beitar Jerusalem enters the match after falling at Kiryat Shemona 2:0 last week and have collected 4 points to date, good for 13th place.

You may recall, the two sides faced each other in the Toto Cup earlier this season with Maccabi taking a 1:0 victory thanks to Aaron Schoenfeld’s goal. Last season the clubs met 4 times in league play with each team winning two matches.

Head Coach Vladimir Ivic spoke about Beitar’s speed and attack at the prematch press conference: “We’re preparing ourselves for this, talking about this a lot and working hard. There are things that we need to improve from last match and that’s our goal. You’ll have to wait and see if we have prepared something different for the game.”

Dor Peretz also addressed the assembled media ahead of the Beitar game: “They can cause us some difficulties. Beitar is known as one of the best counterattacking teams and that is one of their advantages. If we pay attention to this it will help us. They have many advantages and we’ll plan accordingly.”

Some facts and stats:
* Maccabi’s last league loss was against Beitar last April when they fell 3:2. Since then the Yellow & Blue have an 11 match undefeated streak.
* In the last 5 league matches between the clubs, the winner scored more than one goal.
* The last time a contest between Maccabi and Beitar ended in a 0:0 draw was in February 2012. Since then the clubs have played 23 games in which at least one goal was scored.