Maccabi Tel Aviv qualifies for the Europa League with huge victory over Backa Topola

Aug 30, 2024 | Football

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC qualified for the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League season on Thursday after defeating TSC Backa Topola 5-1 in Serbia in the second leg of their play-off battle, for an 8-1 victory on aggregate.

Zarko Lazetic’s squad went into the away fixture against his former team confident after winning the first leg against TSC 3-0 last week in Hungary, where the Yellow & Blue is playing their home games due to the ongoing security situation in Israel. Their position only strengthened with a compelling start to the game, with Henry Addo scoring two goals inside the first six minutes of play, each courtesy of a Gabi Kanichowsky assist. Maccabi showed no signs of slowing down, as offseason signing Tyrese Asante scored his debut goal for the club after the TSC defenders failed to clear an Osher Davida corner in the 12th minute. While Maccabi continued to dominate the play and Dor Turgeman missed two shots which could have put Maccabi ahead even further, by halftime the damage was done and Maccabi had a commanding 3-0 lead – and 6-0 on aggregate – meaning that it would have taken something extraordinary from the home team to prevent Maccabi from a playoff victory.

Photo credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv


As the second half started, Lazetic made two changes, with Hisham Layous replacing Davida and Idan Nachmias replacing Sagiv Jehezkel (who had a yellow card to his name from the first half). TSC had more opportunities in the second half, but Maccabi was first to strike after halftime, with Turgeman finally finding the back of the net in the 56th minute from an assist from Maccabi’s captain for the game, Dor Peretz. While Maccabi had a commanding 4-0 lead, TSC was unable to score, but was still finding holes in Maccabi’s defense as they continued to attack.

Lazetic felt the need to bring on fresh legs, making his final substitutions in the 64th minute, with Nir Bitton replacing Raz Shlomo in defense, Ido Shahar replacing Peretz in the midfield and Elad Madmon replacing Turgeman up front. Maccabi’s fifth goal of the evening came in the 89th minute, with Roy Revivo firing a shot in the box which TSC goalkeeper Veljko Ilic saved, only for Shahar to put the ball in the back of the net. With the game all but over, Prestige Mbounngou scored a consolation goal for the home team in injury time after the Maccabi defense failed to successfully clear a TSC corner, with the final scored 5-1 to Maccabi.

“It’s the second time in my life to come here as a guest,” Lazetic said after the game of the sentiments of returning to TSC Arena. “For sure, it was emotional, but we are professional. Congratulations to my players. We killed the match. We immediately scored two fast goals and it directed the match as we wanted. It looked easy, but it’s not. It’s important for me to see the progress in every facet of our game and we need to keep continuing like today.”

Photo credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv


“Step by step, we are getting better game by game and I’m satisfied,” Lazetic continued. “We are now in, I don’t know how many matches in a row with wins and with progression in the game. When we compose the whole team we get better and better and I’m sure it will get better.”

After qualifying for the 2024/25 Europa League, Maccabi find out on Friday afternoon to see which teams they will face during the season, with the draw taking place in Monaco. Unlike previous seasons in which the format began with the group stages, this season 36 teams will participate, with each team playing eight different teams in the initial stage (four at home, four away), with the first game in the last week of September and the last game of the stage to take place at the end of January. The top eight teams will advance to the knockout round of 16, while the teams ranked from ninth to 24th will play knockout playoff games for the last eight spots.

“I don’t know. It’s exciting and we are excited to see how it will be,” Lazetic said of the new format for the competition. “I really don’t know exactly how it will be, but we will see. For sure, it will be interesting. A lot of matches and we are excited to be part of the new format.”

Photo credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv


While waiting to find out their fixture for the Europa League, Maccabi will return to Israel to prepare for their opening game of the 2024/25 Winner League, an away fixture against Maccabi Petah Tikvah at HaMoshava Stadium on Sunday night.

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