Maccabi started the 2023/24 season with 5 victories, 1 draw and a 17-3 goal tally. Maccabi enjoyed a better start to a league campaign only twice in the past winning the opening six matches (1953/54 and 1993/94).
In 77 league encounters with Hapoel Jerusalem, Maccabi recorded their 48th victory with an additional 12 draws and 17 defeats. At Teddy stadium Maccabi’s record currently stands on 7 league wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat in 9 matches.
Last night’s victory set a record as Hapoel Jerusalem suffered its’ sixth successive home defeat to the same opponent in the league. Maccabi’s run began in November 1999 and was stretched even further yesterday. Hapoel Jerusalem’s previous negative record was also against Maccabi with 5 successive home defeats between 1972-1976.
Maccabi completed a two-goal comeback at Teddy which was the 120th time in the club’s history that an early deficit ended with a league victory. While this was only the second comeback ever against the Jerusalem side, Maccabi’s record number of comebacks (13) was recorded against Bnei Yehuda.
Eran Zahavi reached an impressive landmark of 150 goals in the top-flight and is ranked 10th in the all-times goal-scorers chart. Zahavi scored 123 league goals in 157 appearances for Maccabi and has a further 27 goals in 94 league appearances for Hapoel Tel Aviv. The last player to reach 150 league goals was Shai Holtzman in February 2006 featuring for 9 different clubs.
The 36-year-old was on target in every one of the four league matches he featured against Hapoel Jerusalem. Zahavi also scored in his first four league matches against three other clubs: Ironi Kiryat Shmona, Hapoel Acco and Maccabi Netanya. He also holds the Maccabi record of scoring in every one of his 7 league encounters against one side – Ironi Kiryat Shmona.
Osher Davida scored his debut Maccabi goal that completed the comeback and secured the victory to become the 301st player to score for the club in the league.
