Hapoel Tel Aviv Earns Draw in Italy, Maccabi Tel Aviv Faces Defeat in Switzerland
Hapoel Tel Aviv left Italy with no goals, no away advantage – and yet a huge result. A goalless draw against Atalanta in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League Playoff Round tie keeps their European dream very much alive and sends the contest to a knife-edge second leg in Hungary.
Maccabi Tel Aviv did not fare as well. A 2-1 defeat away to Lugano leaves them with work to do in Batumi next week.
Hapoel frustrate Atalanta and bring tie home alive
In front of 1,500 travelling supporters, Hapoel arrived with intent, not fear. The Reds pressed high from the opening whistle, snapping into challenges and trying to force mistakes from an Atalanta side expected to dominate.
Roie Alkukin whipped an early cross into the Italian box, but it drifted away from its target. Omri Altman then saw a corner cleared, and with that, the tone was set: half-chances, not clear ones, and a cagey battle for territory rather than a flowing European spectacle.
Both teams spent long spells probing, testing, looking for a weakness. They rarely found one. The first half closed at 0-0, with neither side able to prise open a defence that refused to blink.
After the break, the pattern barely changed. Neither team wanted to be the first to over-commit and pay the price. Hapoel coach Elyaniv Barda tried to break the stalemate with a bold double change, introducing Xander Silva and Mor Buskila to inject pace and freshness.
The game still stuttered. The tension did not.
Only in stoppage time did Atalanta finally threaten to justify their status. Ederson twice found room to shoot in the dying moments, twice thought he had won it. Twice Assaf Tzur denied him with sharp saves that preserved the clean sheet and Hapoel’s position in the tie.
At the whistle, it felt like a small upset. Not a win on paper, but a psychological one.
“We can congratulate the guys on a very good performance. We stuck to our principles and played our football against a great team, so the players deserve congratulations,” Barda said afterward. “Having said that, it ended 0–0, and we have a second leg in which we’ll want to reproduce this performance. In the end, we stood firm and insisted on doing what we had worked on. There is still room for improvement, but the better chances were ours.”
On the opposite bench, Maurizio Sarri acknowledged the struggle.
“I expected a difficult game. They were superior to us physically. We lack fluency in our play; every time we receive the ball, we think, and that slows us down,” he admitted. “Nevertheless, there are also positive aspects: in our last three games, we haven’t conceded a goal.”
The tie now moves to Miskolc, Hungary, Hapoel’s home-away-from-home, where one of these sides will claim a place in the Conference League league stage. Hapoel will take with them a clean sheet, confidence, and the belief that the “great team” on the other side are far from untouchable.
Maccabi punished in Lugano after costly errors
For Maccabi Tel Aviv, the margins went the other way.
Kenny Miller’s team fell 2-1 in Lugano, undone by a poor clearance, a penalty, and missed chances at the other end. Kevin Behrens and Anto Grgic scored for the Swiss hosts, with Ido Shahar finding the net for the yellow-and-blue.
Lugano struck first on the half-hour mark. A mishit clearance from goalkeeper Ofek Meir Melika invited pressure, and the hosts needed no second invitation. The ball came back into the danger area and Behrens rose to nod it home for 1-0 in the 30th minute.
Maccabi responded after the interval with exactly what they needed: quality from wide and a composed finish. Just two minutes into the second half, Roy Revivo delivered a superb cross and Shahar met it, steering the ball in to level at 1-1 in the 47th minute.
The momentum seemed to shift. It didn’t last.
Tyrese Asante brought down Yanis Cimignani in the area, and the referee pointed straight to the spot. Grgic stepped up and calmly converted, restoring Lugano’s lead and making it 2-1.
Maccabi had their chances to repair the damage. Shahar, Dor Peretz and Revivo all found themselves in promising positions as the visitors chased a second equalizer. None could find the finish, and Lugano carried a one-goal advantage into the second leg.
“It was a good game. I’m coming away with very positive feelings about our performance in the second half. I have no doubt that we can get the win next week,” Miller said. “The Lugano players were very aggressive in the first half. They pressed us and made it difficult for us to settle and find our rhythm. The second half was completely different. We created several promising attacks, found a much better rhythm and had a lot of possession.”
Shahar, who scored on his 25th birthday, cut a more conflicted figure.
“Honestly, I would have been much happier if we had won and received the perfect birthday present. I’m happy about the goal, but unfortunately we lost in the end,” he said. “Nevertheless, we fully believe that with the support of the fans next week in Batumi, we will get the job done.”
So Hapoel return from Italy with a stalemate that feels like a statement, while Maccabi come back from Switzerland needing a comeback. Two ties, two thin margins, and one question hanging over both Tel Aviv clubs: who will still be standing in Europe when the second legs are done?
