Maccabi Tel Aviv has regained its trampled honor. Danny Dvorin's column

Although Maccabi Tel Aviv will not continue in the Europa League, it at least regained the honor that was trampled last week in its 3:0 loss to CSKA Sofia. In the return leg that took place yesterday in Bulgaria, Maccabi won 3:1, and in truth, it deserved even more.

From the start of the match until the 70th minute, it attacked the Bulgarian half of the field incessantly. In fact, from a professional standpoint, the 'Yellows' eclipsed CSKA, which apparently did not expect to face such a high-quality opponent. Almost all Maccabi players cooperated in pressing the hosts. The most prominent among them were Asante, Revivo, Shahar, Peretz, Davidah, and Varela. It was a dominance that could not be ignored.

The one who believed that a comeback could be achieved in the return leg was coach Kenny Miller, who spoke about it in recent days and apparently convinced his players that they are much better than what they showed in the heavy defeat. Their ambition yielded a first goal from the feet of Dor Peretz as early as the 12th minute. From then until the end of the half, the 'Yellows' continued to reach opportunities, but time after time they missed the good chances to increase the score.

Also at the start of the second half, the 'Yellows' attacked without the home team having an answer to those attacks. The new signing striker Ester Sokler made it 0:2 with a header, and with this goal, one could already hope that everything was possible. Sofia, on the other hand, could not believe it was happening to them, especially when Varela began his dizzying dribbles. His miserable markers trembled and sweated with fear every time the ball was passed to him. In doing so, the player gave an instructive lesson on the immense importance of the winger in the game of football.

Maccabi continued its attempts to increase the score, however, a moment of negligence in defense cost them a conceding goal scored by Sensi. It turned out that this goal took the wind out of their sails to some extent, and even when they took a 3:1 lead, they did not have the strength to increase it.

The final result increased the sense of a great missed opportunity in a match where the Maccabees proved the talent and power inherent in them. This was exactly the familiar Maccabi Tel Aviv, unlike the team that lost last week with a score of 3:0. Let's hope that at the end of next week, against Lugano in the Conference League playoffs, we will enjoy them again.