Maccabi Tel Aviv cruised past Maccabi Haifa 3-0 in the Israeli Classico as all three goals came in the first half of the game. Sagiv Yehekel opened the scoring as he sent a scorcher from outside of the box into the top right hand corner of the goal in the 14th minute while Dor Peretz doubled the advantage ten minutes later as he put away a beauty of a ball by the aforementioned Yehezkel.

Ido Shahar added yet another yellow-and-blue goal as he polished off a gorgeous team play that saw Andrade find Roy Revivo who assisted on the marker to take a 3-0 lead in the 34th minute. Both teams would have chances but the score remained as is for the balance of the contest as Maccabi closed out the win.

“The first half was excellent,” Maccabi interim head coach Kenny Miller began. “We played the way we wanted to, bravely and we got back to ourselves after the derby. Maccabi Haifa are a very good team, but we proved who we are. At the start of the second half, Maccabi Haifa began putting us under pressure, but we regained control and could have scored another goal. At big clubs, you always have to press, always look for the next goals.“

Maccabi Haifa Head Coach Barak Bachar reflected on the loss, “We were soft and we actually came away lucky after the first half as we could have given up five or six goals and not just three. I don’t want to talk about what we spoke about at halftime, I’ll keep that to myself. There will be a lot of changes during the offseason but right now we have to end the season properly.”

Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Ashdod 1-0 as Matan Hozez scored in the 43rd minute to relegate the port city side and ensure that the capital city reds will remain in the top league for the 26/27 season.

“This was the kind of match I expected, a battle until the very end,” Jerusalem Head Coach Lior Zada said. “It certainly wasn’t great football, but everyone showed commitment; everyone gave everything from the first moment to the last and didn’t give up on a single challenge. The crowd gave us an incredible push even when we had no energy left. There is a lot of happiness and joy.

Ashdod Head Coach Sharon Mimer concluded, “If I had built the team in the summer, the club would have gone to a good place. I came more for next season than for this one. I wanted to start a new path and unfortunately it didn’t succeed, but I don’t regret coming, I’m happy I came and tried and I wanted to help the team stay up, but unfortunately it didn’t work out.”

Maccabi Netanya and Hapoel Haifa played to a 1-1 draw as Alon Turgeman gave the Carmel reds a 1-0 in the 14th minute but Basam Zarora found the equalizer less than a quarter hour later to split the points.

Ironi Tiberias blanked Maccabi Bnei Reineh 1-0 on Guy Hadida’s penalty goal in the 7th minute to hand the Kinneret based side the win and the points.

Kiryat Shemona walloped Bnei Sakhnin 4-0 thanks for four different goal scorers as Joan Halabi, Adrian Ugarriza, Yair Mordechai and Ori Shnaper all found the back of the net to take the win and the 3-points.