Maccabi Haifa downed Slovan Bratislava 2-1 in the first leg of third round Champions League qualifying that took place in Slovakia. The second leg will replayed next week in Haifa as the Greens will look to punch their ticket to the Playoff Round where Young Boys from Switzerland will be waiting. Messay Dego’s squad opened up the scoring early with a strike by Frantzdy Pierrot form in close to snatch a quick 1-0 lead in the 5th minute.

However, just minutes later Juraj Kucka’s header off a cover caromed off of Haifa defender Abdoulaye Seck and behind keeper Itamar Nitzan to even up the game at 1-1. But as the contest hit the 15th minute, Dia Saba’s left footed stunner from outside of the box found it’s way into the host goal to give Haifa the 2-1 lead that they would hold onto by the end of the first leg. The win puts the Greens in the drivers seat as they tie now heads to the Carmel Mountain.

“We were ready for everything as we faced a very strong team,” Haifa coach Messay Dego said. “Any away game against a league champion is going to be tough. I’m very happy as we recorded a huge win. We are Maccabi Haifa and I’ve said this from day one. We know that in football even at home next week it won’t be easy, but we will have our fans, however, Slovan knows that this will be their last chance.”

“We played against a very good club but we should jhave scored another goal,” Slovan coach Vladimir Weiss explained. “A draw would have reflected this game. This was not a good result but the guys gave everything they had and gave a good effort. But we also have to respect our opponent who rightfully won this game.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv drew 1-1 with AEK Larnaca in the first leg of third round Conference League qualifying. Next Thursday, Robbie Keane’s squad will look to advance to the playoff round in front of their home fans at Bloomfield Stadium in the second leg of the two legged tie. Should Maccabi move into the final stage of qualifying they will play Celje from Slovenia or Belarus side Neman Grodno.

After a goalless first half, the yellow-and-blue snagged the lead as Yvann Macon found Yonatan Cohen on the right side as the winger sent a left footed screamer into the Cypriot goal to go up 1-0. However, Imad Farag took a long ball, turned Maccabi defender Nir Bitton inside out and slotted the ball by Daniel Peretz to tie the game up at 1-1 in the 86th minute.

The hosts had a chance to take the lead five minutes later when Bitton yanked down Adam Gyurcso in the box good for a penalty but Ivan Trickovski’s spot kick was brilliantly saved by Peretz as the shot stopper dove to his right to paw the ball away to safety and keep the score as is and send the two legged tie to Israel for the decisive second game.

Eran Zahavi looked back at the draw, “I take for responsibility for the result as I had enough chances to kill the game off. We were taught a lesson today. We should have put this game to bed before reaching this stage. We should have been leading 2-0 or 3-0 and make this game a lot more calm than we actually did. We didn’t score the second goal which is a shame and we are fortunate to have Daniel Peretz with us as he saved us tonight. Penalties are his expertise so it is good he is still here and now we have to finish it off at Bloomfield.”

“They are a good team and you can’t expect to dominate every team,” Keane said following the game. “We had a spell for about ten minutes but we dominated the game. We had chances but we have to execute them. You can’t concede goals in the last few minutes of the game. The quicker we learn that the quicker we learn more games. The support here was amazing and should be even better next week.”