This Sunday night will see yet another barnburner of an Israeli league matchup when Beitar Jerusalem heads to Bloomfield Stadium for a date with Maccabi Tel Aviv. There’s no question that this will be yet another sold out clash and one that will have the fans buzzing hours before kickoff.

The yellow-and-black have played in front of huge crowds this season, whether it was less than two weeks ago when they captured the Toto Cup over Hapoel Tel Aviv at Sammy Ofer Stadium, against Ashdod, Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Beer Sheva at Teddy Stadium or at Bloomfield versus the Reds, Beitar is the show that no one wants to miss out on.

And they really are a show.

Barak Itzhaki, the head coach, has done a tremendous job of turning the franchise into a professionally run, well-oiled machine that has created excitement and joy for the fans so far this season and those fans just keep coming back for more and more and more.

Sure, they have dropped points, most recently this past Monday night at home to the southern reds in a tough end to end battle with Ron Kozuk’s squad that currently sit in first place and with a chip on their shoulder from last season when they just missed out on taking home the league title. The close to 30K supporters who packed into Teddy, knew that Hapoel Beer Sheva brought with them one of teh best teams in the country off not the best right now and finding a way to come away with 3-points or even one was going to be a challenge.

Beitar was up to that challenge, especially in a second half that saw them control the pace of play but unfortunately for the fans, they could not find the back of the goal time after time. Should they have scored, the fans would have blown the top off of the stadium that was boiling and whistling like a hot pot of water on the burner.

“We’re only at the beginning of the season,” Itzhaki said at the prematch press conference. “One win or loss can’t define or decide the season for us or for any other team. I can take a lot of positives from the second half, and I said after the game that it’s a shame because we really didn’t deserve to lose that match.”

The offense was bubbling, the chances were there, but they just couldn’t find a way past Niv Eliasi as they would have to accept a moral victory, but not one that would move them up on the table. The fans cheered Beitar as they left the pitch knowing that their heroes had given their all against a top team and they were able to stay with them step-by-step throughout the 90 minutes. Now they will need to turn their sights onto Bloomfield.

“The stadium will definitely be full,” Itzhaki commented knowing they will need to do the same this Sunday night at 8:30p against a Maccabi team that just stood toe-to-toe with Aston Villa, an English Premier League power in Birmingham and made the country proud.

“Most of the crowd will be Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, but our supporters can be heard in every stadium, no matter the number. We hear them and feel their support. It’s another big match and we always want full stadiums and for our football to keep developing.”

Sure the yellow-and-blue lost 2-0 at Villa Park, but they had opportunities, Dor Peretz had a chance that should have been a goal, but nevertheless, they represented Israel at the highest of levels in a situation that wasn’t simple to say the least.

No Maccabi Tel Aviv away fans will be present at Villa Park.

And yet, these masked up Muslims are putting up anti-Zionist signs and Palestine flags around Aston.

They want it to be a no-go zone for anyone Jewish. Putting up Union flags isn’t intimidation, this clearly is. pic.twitter.com/uzwsJQWtuP

— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) November 5, 2025

With massive anti-semitic and anti-Israel protests taking place in Birmingham around the stadium and with bloodthirsty hooligans whose only purpose was to spew baseless hatred of Jews and Israel ahead of the match, a sick and vile display was seen by people around England and across the globe.

This was brutal thuggery and intimidation by masked bullies whom the local police pandered too as they led away a lone female counter protester with an Israeli flag. How sad.

📸 Pictured: A woman holding up an Israeli flag escorted away by police outside Villa Park ahead of Aston Villa's Europa League match against Maccabi Tel Aviv

Follow the latest updates ⬇️https://t.co/gOaMVHdPPI pic.twitter.com/x50NMouVuP

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) November 6, 2025

Where has one of the largest cities in England gone and what has it turned into?

Maccabi fans were not at the match, in fact, the police couldn’t be counted on to protect them and with all of the police nonsense going on, the club itself felt it prudent not to take the away fan ticket allocation. They didn’t want to put their fans at risk and rightfully so because they would have been at risk as the thousands of violent, despicable and disgraceful barbarians would have had one thing in mind, catch the Jew.

Aston Villa supporters came out less than an hour prior to the match and sang to their hearts delight at the disgusting brood that brought only hate to the table and nothing else as they showed up those who came to do anything but enjoy a European night at one of the great stadiums in the country.

Itzhaki of course comes from the school of Maccabi Tel Aviv and played plenty of matches in Europe for the yellow-and-blue knew what the players on his former club had to experience, “There were protests before, but definitely not at this level. Since the war, things have escalated much more. Of course these are things that shouldn’t happen, we’re involved in sports, that’s all. These things simply shouldn’t happen.”

Beitar will have an opportunity to win a tough away fixture on Sunday night since Maccabi will have very little time to get their ducks in order especially after losing one of their most important defenders Ali Camara to an unfortunate injury, but nonetheless, Itzhaki knows that the yellow-and-blue are built for these types of battles.

“They have such a deep squad,” the Beitar bench boss said. “They are built exactly for moments like these. Maccabi Tel Aviv knew this would be a challenging season for them in terms of travel and rotation. I’m sure they’ll put out an excellent lineup against us, and it won’t slow down their tempo one bit. Maccabi is a very experienced club, especially in European competitions, they know how to manage their squad and build a team that can compete in two competitions. They’ve been doing it for years, so I don’t think it will affect anything.”

Yes, Maccabi is deep, very deep, but they will also be ripe for the taking and Itzhaki knows it, however, he also has a number of players who are out injured for this game including Luka Gadrani and Yarin Levy.

“Like I said last week about Gadrani’s absence, when Yarin doesn’t play, another player will and he’ll have to maintain the level of play. I have quality players and I don’t think it will hurt us. We have other good players who will step into that role and perform well.”

In terms of expectations, if Beitar loses, the gap to the top of the table will be ten points and without a doubt could put a damper on the thoughts of winning the championship, but Itzhaki isn’t looking at it that way, but rather how is the club progressing and improving as they look to build something of their own and something that perhaps resembles that of Maccabi.

“I don’t think you’ve ever heard anyone here say that we’re in a title race. Of course, dreams are one thing and reality is another. The team is good and we’re in a good process, progress, recovery, call it whatever you like. We’re playing good football and you can see the fans’ renewed engagement; they’re coming back to the stands. You even hear from players on our team and from other clubs that they’re amazed by what’s happening with our fans. The club is truly moving in a positive direction.”