Beitar Jerusalem pounded Maccabi Tel Aviv 6-2 as Adi Yona and Yarden Shua both bagged braces in a game that saw yellow-and-blue keeper Roi Mishpati sent off after head-butting the aforementioned Shua early on in the second half and changing the complexion of the match as the capital city squad ran away with the blowout win.

Prior to the game, Gali and Zivi Berman were honored by Maccabi as the former hostages who returned home in October made their first appearance back at Bloomfield Stadium in what was no doubt the highlight of the evening for the hosts and their fans.

Elad Madmon had a pair of chances while Dor Peretz, Helio Varela and Osher Davida did as well for Maccabi Tel Aviv as opportunities for Beitar Jerusalem were hard to come by throughout the first half save for an Adi Yona attempt. As the match headed towards the break a quick throw in by Roy Revivo found Heitor who headed the ball backwards into the goal to give the yellow-and-blue a 1-0 lead just ahead of halftime.

Beitar came out like a house on fire as Yarden Shua picked off an errant back pass by Raz Shlomo and slotted it behind Roi Mishpati to draw the yellow-and-black even. Omer Atzily sent Adi Yona a perfect ball as the attacking midfielder dribbled through a shell shocked Shlomo in the box and sent a gorgeous strike into the back of the goal to give the visitors a 2-1 lead in the 51st minute.

Things went from bad to worse for Maccabi when keeper Roi Mishpati head-butted Yarden Shua and was sent off for his actions handing Beitar a penalty that Atzily promptly put behind second choice keeper Yoav Gerafi for a 3-1 lead. Yona added his second of the game thanks to Atzily and Shua to give Beitar a 4-1 advantage in the 65th minute sending some of the Maccabi faithful to the exits early.

Shua scored his second goal of the contest when he beat Gerafi to the ball and sent it into the back of the net for a 5-1 lead while Andrade pulled one back when keeper Miguel Silva’s sloppy pass was tapped back into the Beitar goal but Ziv Ben Shimol scored to make up for his keeper’s miscue as the visitors took home the 6-2 win.

Barak Itzhaki looked back at the win, “About a year ago we had a great win at Bloomfield against Hapoel Tel Aviv, but not just any team can come in here and score 6 goals. The ball just went into the goal and once Maccabi went a player down we had more space to operate. But we know that Maccabi never gives up and even at 3-1 I had to push them hard and make sure that we would take the win.”

“I didn’t make changes because their played brilliantly against Aston Villa,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Zarko Lazetic said. “We made mistakes on defense and this was also one of the toughest moments as a coach. But that’s the life of a coach, one day it’s good and the next days it’s tough. Everything happened very quickly and I tried to help them as best as I could. I hope to give back to the fans at the next match.”

Yarden Shua looked back at the victory, “It’s an amazing feeling and great to be on a team like Beitar Jerusalem who are doing incredible things. I am happy that I am getting back into the swing of things, Barak really believed in us. We don’t want to talk about the championship but we are building an growing, we came into the second half with a goal in mind and we were looking to pick up the pace which we were able to do.”