Hapoel stunned Maccabi 2-1 in the Tel Aviv Derby with a pair of second half injury time goals as the reds defeated their city rivals for the first time in 12 years setting off massive celebrations by their supporters. Dor Peretz gave the yellow-and-blue a 1-0 lead as he put home a Helio Varela cross in the 32nd minute as it looked as if Maccabi was in full control of the contest.

Zarko Lazetic’s squad were quicker to the ball and played a much more concise game as they continued to cruise throughout the second half, but a pair of Hapoel substitutes, Xander Silva and Omri Altman teamed up to draw Elyaniv Barda’s side even as the latter headed hime the former’s cross in the 91st minute. With momentum all on the red’s side and the yellow-and-blue backpedaling, Chico stabbed home the winning goal to hand Hapoel the shocking victory and sending their fans into ecstasy.

Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Elyaniv Barda spoke about the win, “Omri Altman, who scored the tying goal got through one training session and I told him that he can let me know right before the match if he can go or not and he said I’m good to go and we know how the game ended. I really believe in this team and after that very cruel loss in the State Cup I had to look back and see how we have progressed from 4th place in the Leumit to where we are now. I’m happy that not only am I thrilled we were able to comeback but also win the game, the fans can really be exited and celebrate the victory and they deserve this joy.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Zarko Lazetic reflected on the loss, “We controlled the game for 90 minutes but we conceded two goals in the last four minutes. We have to control extra time better. The players did everything they could but we had to avoid the two long balls. I feel very bad, how could I feel after a defeat. It’s painful and especially how we played until the end.”

Omri Altman reflected on the game, “We spoke about if I would play since I was out injured for the last couple of weeks but as they say the rest is history. I can’t even describe it, it was surreal as we waited for the referees to make a decision if the goal was good or not which felt like an hour but when they did, it was something I dreamed of for a long time, we deserved it, the fans deserved it, the players and staff as well as the owner deserve it. I’m so happy that we were able to do it.”

After a quiet opening half hour, Maccabi Tel Aviv began pressing forward as they almost broke the deadlock via a Sagiv Yehezkel header but Hapoel Tel Aviv keeper made a cat-like reflex save as he just pawed the ball over the bar. However, it didn’t take long after that for the yellow-and-blue to take the lead as Roy Revivo stole the ball at midfield, sent it to Helio Varela who crossed it to Dor Peretz in the middle of the box as the captain slotted it home to go up 1-0 in the 32nd minute.

Sayed Abu Farchi and Sagiv Yehezkel both had chance to double the advantage while Anas Mahmid had an opportunity at the other end to draw even but his attempt was way wide left of the goal as Maccabi took a 1-0 lead into the break.

Hapoel brought on striker Daniel Dappa at the start of the second half to refresh the attack as the reds began to take control of the pace of play but Roy Korine’s weak effort was easily taken care of by Maccabi keeper Ofek Melika as Hapoel Head Coach Elyaniv Barda made another pair of substitutes with Doron Linder and Xander Silva entering the fray in the 64th minute. Abu Farchi’s header just missed the target, Ido Shachar’s attempt caromed off a Hapoel defender while at the other end Dappa’s header was caught by Melika in the 85th minute.

But out of nowhere Omri Altman headed home an Xander Silva cross to draw the reds even in the 91st minute and Chico stabbed home the ball three minutes later to snatch the 2-1 victory from the jaws of defeat.