Following on from last week’s “Match of the Season” when Maccabi Tel Aviv beat second-placed Maccabi Haifa 2-0, Vladimir Ivic’s charges travel to Jerusalem tonight for a clash against Beitar Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium (kickoff 20:45), in a match that will complete the 29th round of league action.
With a win, Maccabi’s 12-point lead at the top of the standings will increase to 14 points. That is thanks to Maccabi Haifa drawing 2-2 with their city rivals Hapoel on Sunday. With seven matches remaining after tonight, only a very brave person would bet against Maccabi retaining their title well before the league is concluded early next month.
Beitar Jerusalem have had a far less successful return to action and drew their opening fixture after the restart 1-1 with Hapoel Beersheba. They then lost 3-0 to Hapoel Tel Aviv. Roni Levi’s men are third in the standings on 50 points, 20 points behind their rivals tonight. Hapoel Beersheba are on 47 points in fourth place, Hapoel Tel Aviv have 45 and Hapoel Haifa are on 39 points.
Unless Beitar win tonight, they will not have even a theoretical chance of winning the title, but they do want to try to consolidate their third position in the standings and give themselves the chance of gaining a place in European club play next season.
Both outfits have met twice already this season. The last clash at Teddy ended in a 4-0 win for Maccabi, in what was one of their best showings in the current campaign. That was followed by a frustrating goalless home draw that was played at Sammy Ofer Stadium.
Stats of note:
Maccabi have not conceded a goal against Beitar in their last four league meetings and if they keep a clean sheet this evening, it will be the first time ever that they have done so for five consecutive matches against Beitar.
Overall, there have been 126 league clashes between the two clubs. Maccabi have won 51 times, 37 have ended in draws and Beitar have won 38. The goal difference is 178-133 in favour of Maccabi.
Beitar have the slightly better record when hosting Maccabi, who have won 22 times against Jerusalem, draws have been recorded 18 times and there have been 25 wins for Beitar. The goal difference is marginally in Maccabi’s favour at 70-68.
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Beitar have hosted Maccabi three times in the past behind closed doors because of disciplinary issues and that does not bode well for the visitors, who have not won any of those three fixtures, losing twice and drawing once.
Maccabi’s 4-0 win this season was also Beitar’s biggest loss in the current campaign, and their biggest-ever defeat in Jerusalem, alongside the 5-1 defeat at the hands of Bnei Yehuda last season.
The clubs have met in the playoff phase 13 times before, 11 in the upper section and twice in the lower section and the record is seven wins for Maccabi, two draws, and four wins for Beitar.
