Maccabi Tel Aviv punched their ticket to the UEFA Conference League groups stages with a 1-1 draw (5-2 aggregate) at Celia in Slovenia. After Aljosa Matko’s shock first half goal, Gaby Kanichowsky received the ball in the box, turned and sent it right into the back of the goal to earn the yellow-and-blue a draw and a place back in European competition.

“We knew it would be a very difficult game and we saw that Bloomfield, so we knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Maccabi head coach Robbie Keane said. “We struggled in the first 25 minutes but I liked the performance in the second half. The big goal that I had was to qualify for the group stages, we achieved that and full credit to the players.”

The goal scorer Gaby Kanichowsky said, “Every game coach says that we need every player in the squad. At halftime he really gave it to us about our performance in the first half but he made the substitutes and I’m happy that everyone who came in made a difference in the second half.”