The third round of the preliminary stages of the regional league (Conference League) brought together Maccabi Tel Aviv against A.E.K Larnaca FC from Cyprus. The match took place on Wednesday due to a UEFA rule that prevents two matches from being played within 50 km on the same day, thus the game was moved forward a day.
Maccabi Tel Aviv dominated throughout the game and created opportunities, but Dor Peretz and Eran Zahavi missed in front of the goal, and the first half ended goalless.
Daniel Peretz saves a penalty in the 84th minute
In the second half, the pace continued and in the 64th minute, Yonatan Cohen found the corner of the goal and made it 1-0. A quarter of an hour later, Imad Faraj equalized the score under pressure from the Cypriots.
Just three minutes later, a penalty kick was awarded to the Cypriots, but when faced with Daniel Peretz, who is one of the best penalty-saving goalkeepers in Europe, he stopped it and secured the 1-1 result.
The second leg match next week on Thursday, against a full Bloomfield, is expected to help the yellow-blue team advance to the playoff stage.
