Five-star Maccabi sail through Champions League qualifier
Maccabi Tel Aviv are through to the Champions League third qualifying round after they beat Maltese champions Hibernians 5-1 at the Bloomfield Stadium on Tuesday night.
Trailing 2-1 from last week’s first leg, an own goal from Jorginho, two strikes from Eran Zahavi, one from the penalty spot, plus late efforts from Tal Ben-Haim and Nosa Igiebor gave the Israelis an ultimately convincing win. However, the performance was a far from convincing one, and Rodolfo Soares’ strike early in the second half had put the visitors ahead on aggregate.
Maccabi coach Slavisa Jokanovic said: “I can’t be completely satisfied, we had many minutes with many problems. We started very nervously and made many mistakes. At the end we got the result we needed and took a step forward, but there’s a bigger step in front of us.”
Facing Czech champions Viktoria Plzen next, with the first leg next week, Maccabi are looking to reach the group stage for just the second time in their history, their only appearance coming back in the 2004/05 season.
But saying his side have no chance of progressing any further if they don’t improve, he said: “Overcoming Plzen is complicated for us. We must improve by 100 percent or more.”
Ben Haim echoed his manager’s sentiments, saying: “We did a decent job today but we will still have to improve going forward. However, we advanced and that’s what is important right now. When we lost 1:2 away at Hibernians it definitely put the pressure on us at home but I don’t think that this club is as weak as people thought they were.
“When you play away and we didn’t know that much about the Maltese side it was difficult because they played with a lot of passion. When you play at home it’s a different story but we didn’t have any room for mistakes. They have a number of good players and we’re happy that we accomplished what we set out to do. Remember we are still getting into match shape and that this was only our second official match. Next game you’ll see an even better team.”
Speaking about their next match, against Plzen, he said: “We’ve heard about Viktoria Plzen but we don’t know much about them. Our total focus was on defeating Hibernians and on nothing else. Now we will have to get ready and prepare for the next set of matches. This week we will begin to learn about the club and come to the game next week completely focussed.”
Two-goal hero Zahavi said: “There is no such thing as an easy match in Europe, especially as we were under a bit of pressure,” said Zahavi. “Clearly we need to improve but we achieved our goal. If we are disappointed after winning a match 5-1 than we are in a good position.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
