Summary: Hapoel Tel Aviv - Maccabi Haifa 1:0 (Sport1)
Maccabi Haifa this evening (Monday) was far from impressive for 70 minutes at the Bloomfield Stadium, until a wonderful move came in which Dolev Haziza scored for Omer Atzili for one of the goals of the season in the Premier League, the champion beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 0:1 and the opening round of the upper playoffs against M.S.
Ashdod will be four points ahead of second-placed Po'el Beer Sheva and at a double-digit distance of 10 points from Maccabi Tel Aviv - the third season in a row that they are at the top at the end of the regular season.
Barak Bakr informed at the end that Ali Muhammad, who complained of pain and was replaced at halftime, will be examined in the coming days.
Omar Atzili said at the end: "This is a very important victory, we knew the game would be very difficult, we saw that they caused problems for Beitar."
This is the most important victory in the world, and we are very happy.
It was difficult for us in the first half, but we knew that if we continued to press them they would tire from the 60th minute. I got the ball from Dolev, he lifted it to me, I was debating whether to kick a touch and in the end I did it, and it's a celebration.
It's in the top 3 of my goals in the league."
"We believed that we would be with such a gap from the opponents. We saw how we started the season both in the league and in the Champions League. We are very happy to enter the playoffs like this, and want to continue like this. It is clear that it is still a three-way battle, until the end. I know that as soon as we continue like this, the results will be good. I like A little pressure, I like the money time, let's hope it continues like this in the playoffs as well."
The kingdom of the gates?
"It's less important to me, the team's success is important to me, I want another championship."
Who remembers that he was in crisis?
Atzili celebrates (Photo: Ariel Shalom)
Barak Becher analyzed the game and said: "There was total control, but we didn't manage to create enough chances. As the minutes passed we knew that if we created chances we would also score."
On Franzi Pierro, who again did not impress: "What is happening with him? We are not creating enough situations for him to score and it was difficult for him to express his abilities. He did not get into situations at all because we did not put him in balls, this is a period like this and it will pass because we need Him. Many times the strikers draw fire and create areas for players like Atzili, Haziza, Dia and others. Many times thanks to him they look better."
Atzili returned just in time: "We knew he was in a bad time and that he needed to work hard and get back to basics. When you work hard, you also get a reward, and we saw how hard he works."
10 left from Maccabi Tel Aviv: "It's less interesting, we're four left from a very strong team and it looks like the fight will continue until the end. I'm looking at second place and not third.
Bacher added: "It's always fun to win, but today it was a very important and powerful victory because I saw players who didn't lose their heads, didn't do nonsense and dominated for 90 minutes against a very tough opponent. We didn't create enough chances, but we did things right. We knew we wouldn't make it For many situations and what is important is that we scored one more goal."
sport
Israeli soccer
Super League
Tags
Maccabi Haifa
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Barak Bacher
Omar Azili