Maccabi suffered their fourth defeat in the Europa League phase going losing 5-0 to Ajax at the Johan Cruyff Arena. Dor Peretz who captained Maccabi on the night spoke at the end of the match: “We played against a very very good opponent. We wanted to get something out of here in terms of a result but sadly we didn’t” Peretz said. “We have only things to learn from a team of this calibre and we must continue moving forward.”

On the heavy defeat, Peretz continued: “Bigger teams than us suffer similar defeats out here, and while we are not feeling comfortable with such results, this was an opponent of the highest standard.”

As attention will now turn to Sunday’s league match away to Bnei Sakhnin, Peretz said: “We have the league which is our bread and butter and we must come well prepared.”

On Maccabi’s fourth defeat of the group phase, Peretz summed up: “We have still a long way to go. We are still far behind, especially if we see how well we managed to cope in the first two matches. We played well enough to deserve points but didn’t do it. We will continue learning from teams of this calibre and from the way they play. If we manage to do those things and play at such an intensity we will go a long way.”

Ahead of Sunday’s league match at Sakhnin, Peretz said: “We will have to recover quickly both physically and mentally as Sakhnin awaits on Sunday which is the most important task right now”.

Ido Shahar made a second half substitute appearance at Turner stadium as he came on at a crucial minute against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona but was unable to help the side avoid the 1-0 defeat. The 23-year-old stepped onto the pitch at Turner seconds before Eran Zahavi had a penalty saved while four minutes later Mohamad Abu Rumi scored the only goal of the game to inflict Maccabi their second league defeat. “We are disappointed we didn’t win” Shahar said at the post match press conference, “But we don’t have too much time to sulk because we have a match on Thursday (Ajax away) and there is a long season ahead of us with many targets both on the league and in Europe.”

“We didn’t want to lose the match. After the victory over Maccabi Haifa we felt that we were in a good momentum and that victory was important. But things like that happen in football. We did everything we could to try win the match and we are sorry for the fans who saw us lose for three matches in succession. I only have good words to say about the fans who travelled all the way to Be’ersheva on a day like this and I am sorry we didn’t win.”

“There are no easy matches” Shahar said, “We tend to look at it on a game by game basis. Now we have Ajax first. You saw that in Europe we come to win every game even when we are facing big opponents. We take the initiative in every game even against opponents that are regarded to be favorites against us. This will not be any different in Holland as we will also travel there with the intention of winning. We placed ourselves in a position where we have plenty of matches to play. This is every player’s dream to participate in such matches and play as many matches in a season.”

Preview:

Maccabi arrived at Turner stadium in Be’ersheva for the MD9 Winner League home match against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona aiming to bounce back from last week’s defeat to Beitar Jerusalem.

Zarko Lazetic’s side who are top of the table with 19 points will seek their 7th league victory against newly promoted side Kiryat Shmona that were 12^th before the match.

The Serbian coach made several changes to the side that lost at Teddy stadium with Stav Lemkin partnering Raz Shlomo as the two central defenders. Sagiv Jehezkel started at right back with Ofir Davidzada on the left completed Maccabi’s defense that lined up in front of Roi Mishpati. Joris van Overeem returned to the anchorman role and joined Gabi Kanichowsky and Dor Peretz as Maccabi’s midfield trio. Henry Addo and Osher Davida were the two wingers supplying the width to Maccabi’s formation with Dor Turgeman leading the attack.

On the bench alongside goalkeeper Simon Sluga, Lazetic named: Idan Nachmias, Tyrese Asante, Eran Zahavi, Wesley Patati, Elad Madmon, Issouff Sissokho, Hisham Layous and Ido Shahar.

First Half

Around 10,000 season ticket holders travelled to Be’ersheva for a home match away from home, showing the team their support. Four minutes from the start Osher Davida picked the ball deep inside Maccabi’s half and began a counterattack which saw Dor Peretz burst forward through the middle. Kiryat Shmona’s midfielder Christian Martinez charged Peretz down stopping the attack and was cautioned by referee Gal Cohen. In the 15th minute Davida had possession on the edge of Kiryat Shmona’s box and when it seemed as though the 23-year-old was going for goal he slipped the ball for Sagiv Jehezkel who couldn’t reach. Peretz tried a left foot shot which was directed straight at goalkeeper Assaf Tzur on 17 before Maccabi’s best chance to score came two minutes later. Davida found Dor Turgeman on the edge of the box as the forward chipped the ball back with a delicate touch to leave his teammate in front of goal. But with only the keeper to beat and in a glorious position to score, Davida miscued his shot wide of the target.

Maccabi continued to dominate enjoying most of the possession with Henry Addo tormenting Kiryat Shmona’s defenders on the left. Turgeman fired a shot wide on 26 and Peretz forced Tzur to stretch himself and turn a low drive for a corner a minute later. Two minutes after the half hour mark Jehezkel also went into the referee’s book for a foul on Jardel. Kiryat Shmona’s defense marshalled by Tzur in goal continued to frustrate Maccabi as the halftime whistle sent both teams into the dressing rooms to regroup ahead of the second period.

Second Half

As neither side made any changes at the interval, it was the visitors who exploited a mistake in Maccabi’s defense and almost drew first blood. A misunderstanding between Jehezkel and Mishpati who struggled to deal with a Tzur goal kick, gifted the ball to Alfredo Stephens. Kiryat Shmona’s striker who had the goal at his mercy somehow managed to roll the ball wide. Within a minute at the opposite end Turgeman rose high to meet Jehezkel’s pinpoint cross but sent his header crashing against the base of the post. In the 53^rd minute a last gasp Jehezkel tackle prevented Kiryat Shmona from scoring at the end of a counterattack that left Maccabi’s defense exposed.

Stav Lemkin limped off after suffering from a head injury and was replaced by Tyrese Asante in the 57th minute. Less than a minute later Addo charged into the area from the byline before his close-range effort was saved by Tzur near the goalmouth.

In the 70th minute Kiryat Shmona were awarded a penalty in controversial circumstances after VAR called the referee to the screen and Asante was judged to have pulled Alfredo’s shirt in the box. Kiryat Shmona’s striker tried dinking the ball over Mishpati but the cheeky attempt of a spot kick was easily collected by the keeper.

Seven minutes later, Maccabi were awarded a penalty of their own after Davida broke forward and slid the ball to Peretz who was fouled in the area by Shai Ben David. Lazetic made a triple substitution before the penalty was taken as Jehezkel, Davida and Joris van Overeem all bowed out and were replaced by Ido Shahar, Wessley Patati and Eran Zahavi. In his first touch of the game, Zahavi picked the ball up but saw his spot kick saved by Tzur. In the 81st minute the visitors’ punished as Nadav Niddam, on loan at Kiryat Shmona collected the ball deep inside Maccabi’s half, burst forward before feeding Mohamad Abu Rumi who buried his shot past Mishpati.

Lazetic made his fifth and final substitution with Elad Madmon replacing Addo for the closing stages.

The fourth official added seven minutes to the game, but nothing seemed to be working in Maccabi’s favor. In the final minute of added time Peretz headed a Kanichowsky free kick but Tzur managed to save and keep his goal locked before the final whistle was heard to end the game with a second successive league defeat. Attention will now turn back to Europe as Maccabi travel to Holland on Wednesday ahead of the Europa League match against Ajax.