Summary: Olympiakos - Maccabi Tel Aviv 4:1/Sport1
On May 29, Eran Zahavi may celebrate an almost historic achievement - because of a match that will take place in Athens at all. Whatever the participants in the conference league finals in Greece, Zahavi will surely be glued to the screen to make sure that no one will deny him another personal title for the collection, in the hope that he will be crowned the king of the factory goals for the 2023/24 season.
Zahavi, who scored 8 goals this season, may become only the second Israeli footballer of all time to finish a season as top scorer of a European club. Until now, the Israeli who held the title with total exclusivity, is Alon Mizrachi - nothing less and nothing more - and now Zazabi has another opportunity to deprive him of a historic record, or at the very least force him to share with the man who has been threatening him for years.
Mizrahi finished the 1998/99 season as the reigning European Cup goalscorer, when he scored 7 goals for Maccabi Haifa; Five years earlier, in the 1993/94 season, he also finished as the factory goalscorer together with three other players, who, like him, scored 5 goals;
Now Zahavi, the runner-up to the Conference League's all-time goal scorer with 19 goals, may do so as well. Zahavi scored 8 goals in the Conference League this season, and it is certainly possible that it will be enough. Last season, for example, only 7 goals were enough for Zaki Amdoni and Arthur Cabral to share the goal crown; Zahavi's chances don't look bad at all. Next on the list, Bruno Petkovic from Dinamo Zagreb, scored 7 goals but was already kicked out of the factory; Yesterday Yussuf Yaziji of Lille, who could have been a threat with a record of 5 goals, was also dismissed.
The biggest threat to Zahavi after all, it seems, is a name that the Maccabi Tel Aviv striker knows very well. Ayoub Al Kaabi, the man who scored three goals for the Yellows in the double match, including a tremendous double and a scorer in the famous 1:6, arrives at the double match with Aston Villa in the semi-finals, with a balance of 5 goals - and with a high motivation to overtake Zahabi. In the Greek-English duel in the semi-finals there may be another competitor for the Golden Eagles, perhaps Watkins from Villa who scored 4 goals - but the probability of this is a little lower. In the corresponding match, Hans Wenken, Thiago, and Skov Olsen - all Club Brugge players, all with 4 caps - will try to challenge as well.
If the title of the top scorer does go to Zahabi in the end, he is expected to be included in a much more exclusive list - alongside the top scorers of the other establishments. Kylian Mbappe leads the list of scorers of the Champions League with 8 goals - and has not yet been relegated. So is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored 10 goals in the Europa League, and the leg is still bent.
One way or another, between Ambaba and Mizrachi, Zahabi will mainly hope for good news from El Keabi.
Top scorer of the Conference League for the 2023/24 season
1. Eran Zahavi (ejected) - 8
2. Bruno Petkovich (ejected) - 7
3. Yusuf Yaziji (ejected) - 5
Dor Peretz (ejected) - 5
Ayoub El Keabi (not ejected) - 5