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Europa League: Maccabi Tel Aviv is Undefeated, Hapoel Be'er Sheva Struggled

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Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be’er Sheva, the Israeli duo in the Europa League, celebrated last week and wanted to keep their momentum.

On Sunday, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be'er Sheva have played in the first Israeli Premier League match after the second coronavirus break. After a goalless draw and a few days to rest, both teams have traveled abroad to their Europa League next games.

Sivasspor vs Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-2

The Asian group of the Europa League was concentrated in Turkey tonight. Maccabi Tel Aviv traveled to play against Sivasspor, who returned to the European competitions for the first after a decade. The other between Qarabağ and Villareal was played in Istanbul due to the ongoing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

With no goals in the first half, Sivasspor was the first to find the net. Olarenwaju Kayode scored for the Turkish side in the 55th minute. In the 67th minute, Maccabi Tel Aviv took over the match. Samba Camara tripped Eyal Golasa in the box, Maccabi Tel Aviv got a penalty kick, and Camara was sent off. Dan Biton took the shot and equalized the score. 7 minutes later, Dor Peretz shot to the goal, the goalkeeper Mamadou Samassa tipped the ball, and Perez scored with a header.

Maccabi Tel Aviv won 2-1 and made two significant achievements. They became the first Israeli team that won its first two matches in the Europa League group stage. This win was also the first Israeli away victory against a Turkish club. They will now return to Israel and get ready to their crucial league match against Maccabi Haifa.

Nice vs Hapoel Be'er Sheva 1-0

UEFA protocol has become completely absurd, and Hapoel Be'er Sheva once again dealt with its lack of consistency. Last week, Hapoel Be'er Sheva got last-minute approval to use Josué Pesqueira, who was tested positive but already recovered. This week, he was tested positive again. According to the regulations in France, you can't enter the country without a negative test. UEFA once again made a special approval, Josué was tested for the second time, got a negative result, and joined the team.

After they were thrashed 6-2 by Bayer Leverkusen last week, Nice took the chance to get their first win. An all-Algerian partnership made the only goal in the match. In the 23rd minute, Youcef Atal passed an accurate ball to Amine Gouiri, who scored his second Europa League goal this season. Hapoel Be'er Sheva tried to score but failed.

While Slavia Praha surprisingly defeated Bayer Leverkusen 1-0, the group is on a four-way tie, as every team won once and lost once. Due to their goal difference, Hapoel Be'er Sheva is currently ranked second. Next week they will play in the league against Bnei Sakhnin before having a difficult home match against Bayer Leverkusen.