Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Dynamo Kyiv 3-2 on aggregate after falling 1-0 in the second leg of their Europa League Playoff Round tie to advance to the Europa League’s league phase.
With Kyiv looking to quickly cut into the Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-1 lead from the first leg, former yellow-and-blue striker Eduardo Guerrero took advantage of a corner as he was wide open inside of the box and put the ball by ’keeper Roei Mishpati to give the Ukrainian squad a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute.
Guerrero almost picked up his second goal of the game a few minutes later but his attempt went wide of the goal. Both sides traded chances throughout the balance of the game, but ultimately Maccabi closed down Kyiv and despite falling 1-0 in the second leg advanced thanks to the comfortable win in the opening match.
Maccabi TA's run in the Europa League is promising thus far
Maccabi will play eight games in the league phase which will include four games at the temporary home stadium in Serbia and four more away. Opponents that were drawn to play the yellow-and-blue include Greek outfit PAOK, Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, French team Lyon, Aston Villa from the English Premier League, Serie A side Bologna along with a pair of German clubs Freiburg and Stuttgart as well as Midtylland from Denmark.
Over in Israel Premier League play, Hapoel Beersheba blasted Ironi Tiberias 7-0 as Kings Kangwa scored an early brace to set the tone in the blowout win.
Meanwhile, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Bnei Reineh drew 2-2 in an entertaining matchup that saw Andrian Kraev rescue a point for the reds deep into second half injury time at Green Stadium in the lower Galilee.
At Sammy Ofer Stadium, Hapoel Haifa dropped Hapoel Jerusalem 2-1 to win its first game of the season, Bnei Sakhnin slipped by Ashdod SC 2-1, while Ironi Kiryat Shmona and Hapoel Petah Tikva played to a goalless draw.