Maccabi Tel Aviv and FCSB draw 1-1 in UEFA Champions League qualifier, decisive second leg awaits

Maccabi Tel Aviv and Fotball Club FCSB (formerly known as FC Steaua Bucuresti) drew 1-1 in the first leg of UEFA Champions League second-round qualifying on Tuesday night as Dan Bitton’s second-half strike was quickly wiped out by a Joyskim Dawa header to send the tie to the second leg all knotted up.

Next Wednesday’s clash will be a home match for Maccabi that will be played in Budapest, Hungary, due to the ongoing war against Hamas in Israel as the yellow-and-blue will look to advance to the third round and a date with the winner of Shamrock Rovers FC and AC Sparta Praha matchup.

Should Maccabi not advance, it will drop to Europa League third-round qualifying and play the winner of the FK Panevėžys and Jagiellonia Białystok tie.

“I liked the game, high stakes,” Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach Zarko Lazetic began. “We had control in the first half but lost the ball in the second. Congratulations to my players, FCSB shows that they are in better rhythm because they have had more competitive games. I said before the game that the chances are 50/50 and now we have seven days to prepare and it will be for sure difficult for both sides.”

Maccabi’s goal scorer, Bitton, reflected on the game while also looking ahead to next week’s clash.

“The result is a fair reflection of the actual game. In our eyes a draw is never a good result as we always want to win at every ground regardless of the opponent. We won’t have Bloomfield next week and will miss the support of our fans, but there will be no excuses. We will try and make the fans who follow us there happy as well as those staying at home supporting us from afar. Our aim will be to advance through. This was only the first half as we will be fully charged for the return leg.”

Bitton scores for Maccabi, Dawa equalizes for FCSB

Eran Zahavi had the first chance of the game for Maccabi, but his eighth minute attempt missed the target just to the left of the goal, while FCSB’s Alexandru Baluta’s chance was saved by yellow-and-blue ’keeper Roi MIshpati soon thereafter. Tyrese Asante, Henry Addo and Idan Nachmias all collected yellow cards for Zarko Lazetic’s squad, while Mihai Lixandru was issued one as well for the hosts as a goalless first half came to a close.

Avishay Cohen and Baluta traded chances early on in the second half while Mishpati came up with a pair of huge saves off of David Miculescu and Adrian Sut to keep the score as is, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

Henry Addo came racing into the box off the left flank as his attempt was blocked by the ’keeper, but Bitton was right in front of the goal as he collected the rebound and scored to give Maccabi a 1-0 lead. However, just minutes later Dawa headed home a Darius Olaru free kick to quickly even up the score at 1-1 in the 75th minute.

As the match wound down, Mishpati and Alexandra Musi each were shown yellow cards as the contest ended all knotted up at 1-1 sending the tie to a decisive second leg next week in Hungary.