Maccabi Tel Aviv slipped by Maccabi Bnei Reineh 2-1 as the yellow-and-blue came back from a 1-0 first half deficit to take the win. In a game that Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Marko Lazetic was banned from the sidelines as his assistant Bojan Leontijevic was in charge, Ezekiel Henty gave the hosts the lead in the 31st minute as his attempt outside of the box found its way into the goal as Reineh took the advantage into the break. However, the yellow-and-blue made three substitutions at half-time that paid off immediately as Weslley Patati sent a perfect ball into the box to Dor Peretz but a foul on the midfielder by Sambinha gave Maccabi a penalty that Sagiv Yehezkel converted to knot the game up at 1-1. That a followed up by a terrific goal from Dor Turgeman in the box to give the visitors the 2-1 lead for good as the yellow-ad-blue collected the 3-points.

“The game was very difficult but also very exciting,” Maccabi assistant coach Bojan Leontijevic said. “We didn’t expect anything less. These were two different games in each half. We suffered in the first half, then at halftime we made substitutions and dominated. We started playing like we were in training and this ended up being a big win for us. Big credit to the players also because it this win came after the victory over Besiktas. Warm words also go to our fans, 3,000 came out to see us and gave us energy. now we’re celebrating.”

“I think that if we were a bit more focussed and confident then things could have been different,” Bnei Reineh Head Coach Sharon Mimer said. “We paid the price for that but we also have to understand that we were playing the most talented team in the country in Maccabi Tel Aviv, however, we have some terrific players on this team.”