Maccabi Tel Aviv falls in Europe, as fans in Israel were kept home

Maccabi Tel Aviv fell to Braga 2-1 in dramatic fashion over the weekend as the Portuguese hosts scored a pair of late goals to snatch the points in the club’s Europa League opener.

Zarko Lazetic’s squad took a 1-0 lead in the 30th minute via an Osher Davida penalty after Dor Peretz was tripped in the box by Braga ’keeper Matheus Magalhaes, earning Maccabi the spot kick. The half ended with Maccabi Tel Aviv ahead.

The yellow-and-blue continued to control and shined defensively, with central defender Nemanja Stojic holding down the fort. However, Braga finally broke through when Portuguese forward Bruma equalized in the 88th minute.

Things went from bad to worse for Maccabi when a Raz Shlomo handball in the box gave Braga a penalty in the 95th minute, which Bruma converted. Gabi Kanichowsky and Tyrese Asante were then booked with red cards as the match ended mercifully for Maccabi.

“I see only positive things, and well done to my players,” Lazetic said after the devastating defeat. “They did everything right in the first half; we had the ball a lot. In the second half, we dropped a bit. The defense was good, but there were moments when we needed to kill the game. Unfortunately, this is football, and my players gave everything today.”

In local play, due to the security situation throughout the country, Homefront Command did not permit fans to attend games in many locations until further notice but allowed the matches to proceed. This was the case in a trio of contests that took place on Saturday.

Maccabi Haifa vs Ironi Kiryat Shmona

Maccabi Haifa crushed Ironi Kiryat Shmona 4-0 as Dean David scored a brace for the Greens in the away win.

Barak Bachar’s squad got off to a quick start when Dolev Haziza’s cross deflected off Kiryat Shmona’s Noam Cohen, resulting in an own goal and a 1-0 Haifa lead in the 13th minute.

David doubled the advantage off a short corner from Lior Refaelov and added his second of the game off another corner kick for a 3-0 lead in the 72nd minute. Five minutes later, Oleksandr Syrota finished off the scoring by converting Dia Saba’s pass for a the comfortable victory.

“It was very difficult to play without an atmosphere – it reminded me of playing during COVID with no fans” said Bachar. “It’s a shame that the supporters couldn’t enjoy the goals, but I hope we gave some satisfaction to the fans at home.”

Jerusalem teams

Beitar Jerusalem downed Bnei Reineh 2-0 as the yellow-and-black scored a pair of second-half goals to secure the win.

After a goalless first half, Dor Micha set up Myron George for the opening goal in the 53rd minute, and less than 10 minutes later, Micha assisted Yarden Shua to wrap up the victory.

Hapoel Jerusalem pounded Maccabi Petah Tikva 4-1, with Don Cedric scoring twice as the capital city Reds took three points.

Andrew Idoko opened the scoring in the 43rd minute, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead at halftime, while Samba Diallo scored just minutes into the second half to double the advantage. Cedric then scored in the 54th and 82nd minutes to give Jerusalem a 4-0 lead before Or Roizman broke up the clean sheet with Petah Tikva’s lone goal.