Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv played to a goalless draw as the yellow-and-black dominated play for the majority of the contest but couldn’t find a marker to break the deadlock that saw both sides walk away with a point a piece for their efforts. Barak Itzhaki’s team is now six points off of the table leaders Hapoel Beer Sheva who have 54 points to Beitar’s 48 while Maccabi Tel Aviv now find themselves in 4th place behind Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Prior to the game former hostage Elkana Bohbot who had been held by Hamas in Gaza for 738 days, was honored and spoke passionately to the fans in attendance.

“Standing here today is a moment that brings me back home,” Bohbot said. “I grew up in Jerusalem, on its streets and with the intensity that exists here. I remember myself as a child coming to the games. I grew up in the stands and I would ask my father to buy me an Eli Ohana jersey, whom I still admire to this day. Beitar Jerusalem for me is part of my heart, part of my identity, it’s beyond love.”

Following the draw, Beitar Head Coach Barak Itzhaki reflected on the result, “We are disappointed not taking the 3-points, we were the better team by far than Maccabi Tel Aviv. It’s too bad and it’s disappointing and now we have to look ahead. Maccabi is a very strong team and we were able to really play our game and we created chances which gives me a lot of positive points to look at. We’ve played well the last couple of game and we also changed the way we played to adapt to the clash at hand.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Ronny Deila reflected on the draw, “I’m not satisfied and we needed to match the intensity and we didn’t do that. This was a good test and it gave us a lot of answers. This was the most difficult game that I’ve had since coming to Maccabi, the question is what we can learn from this result, but I’m happy with the point.”

Luka Gadrani discussed the draw, “I can’t say that this was the best game. Beer Sheva and Maccabi are good teams and we are trying to show our maximum, it may have been a better game than the last five games. We have a lot of games ahead and w ease focused going game by game. Luck has not been on our side but I think we showed better quality and a better game. We deserved to win and we missed out on two points.”

Ofek Melika “It’s very exciting to come here and play at Teddy with this environment but it’s too bad that our fans weren’t here. We played well and took a point and we are still in the championship race.”

Osher Davida’s early chance flew over the bar while Dor Peretz’s opportunity was caught by the Beitar keeper Miguel Silva. Yarden Shua gave a smart pass to Adi Yona but his attempt was easily smothered by Maccabi keeper Ofek Melika while Timoti Muzie’s shot went wide left of the goal as the match went into the break goalless.

Beitar and out of halftime flying with a pair of tremendous chances but Shua’s opportunity was taken care of by Heitor in the area while Timoti Muzie’s shot was stopped by the keeper. After a pair of Maccabi goals were called off due to being offside, the yellow-and-black kept pressing as Gonzalez couldn’t get a good shot off from the top of the box and Yona’s one-on-one chance went over the goal.

Yona again went in all alone and his attempt just went wide left of the goal while Luka Gadrani’s long range screamer cleared the bar as Beitar came closer and closer to breaking the ice. Peretz fed Yunas Malede but his chance just missed the target, Kalu who had come on as a substitute sent his ball out at the other end of the pitch as the match ended goalless with each team taking a point.