Maccabi Haifa and Panathinaikos came tied 0-0at “Sami Ofer” in the context of the 2nd round of the Europa League, in a nice, however, match.
With the home side having more goal-scoring chances overall in the game, led by David who ‘troubled’ Juancar, but to “fall on” Brignoliwhich together with some key interventions by Schenkefeld, kept it zero in second straight European match.
At the same time, the “clover” – which had a good performance in the first half but was under too much pressure in the replay – missed the biggest chance to score in the 17′as from centers of Vilena o Ioannidis headed but the ball stopped at horizontal beam!
Now, Panathinaikos counts four points to 6th group and welcomes Rennes on 26/10 for the 3rd matchday, at 22:00. With Maccabi Haifa, who has one pointto be hosted by Villarreal, on the same day and time.
In the minds of the coaches:
THE Maccabi Haifa lined up with formation the 4-3-3, Keough in goal and Sudgren, Simic, Sek and Kornud four at the back. Kafumana and Jaber were the “cutters” with Sabia in front of them, while Khalaili-Suranov fought on the “wings” and David at the top of the attack.
THE Panathinaikos on the other hand it also “went down” with a system 4-3-3 and Brignoli under the goalposts. Kotsiras, Kotsiras, Schenkefeld, Gedvai and Huancar formed the four in defense and Arao, Cerin and Vilena the players in the midfield. With Mancini and Bernard at the two ends of the attack and Ioannidis at center forward.
The match:
Maccabi Haifa put a lot of pressure on Panathinaikos with… good morning, while choosing to play with “deep” balls to the “back” of the opposing defense and fast football.
However, she made her first move out of… nowhere and due to Brignoli not being sure if she was going to come on or not, in the 7th minute. As a result, David takes the shot, from the stuffing of Simic, but the Italian is eventually blocked!
The “greens” couldn’t control the tempo, while a bad action by Jedvai led to the home team’s second good moment, in the 14th minute, with the same players and… the end, after Brignoli pushed away David’s shot, which was a permanent source of danger.
Three minutes later, Panathinaikos had the first big chance to take the lead. When from the execution of Vilena’s foul on the second post o Ioannidis he made the nailing header but the ball stopped at horizontal beam!
From that point on, Ivan Jovanovic’s team managed to lower the tempo, take measures on the field and circulate the ball better, thanks to the presence of Bernard primarily, but also of Arao-Vilena secondarily…
Another long pass and the correct positioning of Halaili’s body against Juancar led to the former’s one-piece shot from inside right and another save by Brignoli, in the 20th minute.
They were followed by a remarkable, albeit drifting, shot by Vilena in the 25th minute, which went narrowly wide, and the visitors’ big missed opportunity nine minutes later. As after executing a “combination” corner, Villena produced a “sweet” cross for the unmarked Mancini, who however could not turn his body properly and sent the ball out with a header!
Entering the final stretch for the break, both teams “slowed down”. While Halaili took advantage of another bad chase by Juancar, he shot from a position inside the right, but missed, in the 39th minute. With the serious injury of Suranov in the first minute of extra time “marking” the efforts of the two teams.
In the second half, it was again Maccabi Haifa who started stronger, getting a boost from the stands as well. Vilena… took the bite out of the mouth of Seri – who replaced Suranov – in the 47th minute, while five minutes later, Seri won the duel from Juancar turned from the right into the area, where David’s projection was met by Senkefeld and ended corner kick!
Panathinaikos continued to make easy mistakes, not being able to keep the ball and at the same time being forced into a passive role. From another “deep” ball from Cech, David entered the area from the side and right, shot to be chased away by Brignoli, again, in 59′. The Israeli team remained on the attack, but another save by a tackle by Schenkefeld, in the 63rd minute, just as David was about to shoot against Brignoli, kept it 0-0!
Changes followed on both sides by the two coaches, wanting to refresh mainly players and not to change anything at the level of formations. Even so, however, it was Maccabi who threatened again in the 70th minute, only to have another great intervention by Brignoli, in this case a nailed header by Halaili!
With the game heading towards its completion, the “clover” created the conditions to achieve the… longed for goal. However, a shot by Palacios in the 85th minute was stopped by the opposing bodies, while Jedvai’s header in the second minute of stoppage time went wide, with the 0-0 being maintained until the end.
MVP: THE Alberto Brignoli is entitled to argue that held upright the “clover” tonight in Israel. He performed many critical operations, either on his hands or his legs, confirming that he is in very good condition. At the same time, this was the second time that the Italian goalkeeper recorded a clean sheet in as many games in the Europa League!
the “whistle”: The Portuguese Nobre did not have to manage any “dangerous” or difficult phase. With his whistles, he also helped the match to have a rhythm, while he also made proper use of cards, effectively passing rather… unnoticed.
The compositions of the two teams:
Maccabi Haifa (Messaye Daegu) : Keough, Sudgren, Simic, Cech, Kornoud, Kafumana (68′ Mohamed), Jaber, Sabia (68′ Piero), Halaili (84′ Sibley), David (76′ Refaelof), Suranov (46′ lt. Seri ).
They stayed on the bench: Nijan, Goldberg, Podgoreanu, Naor, Kandil, Hagag, Gerson.
Panathinaikos (Ivan Jovanovic): Brignoli, Kotsiras (78′ Vaiannidis), Senkefeld, Jedvai, Huancar (88′ Mladenovic), Arau, Cerin (67′ Djuricic), Vilena, Mancini (78′ Palasios), Ioannidis (67′ Sporar), Bernard.
They stayed on the bench: Lodingin, Xenopoulos, Ruben, Aitor, Sideras, Prodromitis, Bilal.
Referee: Antonio Nobre (Portugal).
Assistants: Pedro Martins, Paulo Bras (Portugal).
4th referee: Bruno Vieira (Portugal).
VAR: Luis Godinho (Portugal).
AVAR: Hugo Miguel (Portugal).
See here the description of the match from the Match Centre
Source: Sport Fm
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