Maccabi Tel Aviv has defeated Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 3-1 in front of a crowd of 22,914 at Bloomfield Stadium on Monday night.

Prior to the kick-off, Maccabi captain Dor Peretz ceremoniously removed the jerseys of Omri Miran, Gali Berman and Ziv Berman, who were released from Hamas captivity with the final group of live hostages two weeks ago, from the row of chairs on which jerseys have borne the names of the Maccabi fans who were still being held hostage in Gaza. The fans then cheered when the big screens projected a video from the Berman twins thanking players and fans for their efforts towards their release over the past two years and urging people not to give up the fight for the release of the remains of the deceased hostages.

[Instagram link to the video of Gali and Ziv: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQUnrqvCBVs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==]

Once the game started, Roy Revivo crossed the ball to his captain at the top of the box in the 18th minute, with Peretz putting the ball past Kiryat Shmona keeper Daniel Tenenbaum to put the home side up 1-0. But Kiryat Shmona equalized in injury time after a Shay Ben David strike from a free kick directly in front outside the box deflected off Ariel Sheratzky, which was too much for Maccabi keeper Roi Mishpati.

In the 50th minute, Ovadia Darwish pulled on Revivo’s shirt as he dribbled the ball into the box, resulting in a penalty. Elad Madmon then converted from the spot to give the Yellow & Blue a 2-1 lead. Both teams had opportunities, but it was substitute Ido Shahar who scored in injury time to guarantee the win for Maccabi.

“They did good press,” Maccabi coach Žarko Lazetic summarized the game. “Sometimes it’s difficult, they made good process and progress. Our best opportunities are after those things as well. Credit to them, they did a good press and there are brave players in high press. If you don’t make good movement in the right time you’re in trouble and we sometimes did good and we sometimes didn’t.”

“We leave without points,” Kiryat Shmona coach Shay Barda said. “I think that in the minutes when we applied pressure – and we applied pressured well – we needed to score. Maccabi’s three goals came from our errors. It’s a challenge, we will get over this and continue.”

“It’s great to open, it’s exciting and I’m happy,”Sayed Abu Farchi said after the win. “I don’t that there’s pressure. We came like every game, it doesn’t matter what happens with our competitors. We want to get three points every game and I’m happy we got them today.”

Maccabi now sits in 2nd place in the standings on 17 points – 4 points behind league leaders Hapoel Beer Sheva – and will travel to Maccabi Bnei Reina this coming Saturday night, while Kiryat Shmona is hovering above relegation in 12th place on 8 points and will next host the in-form Maccabi Netanya on Sunday night.