The opening day of a tournament group stage always brings a buzz of excitement.
When Maccabi Tel Aviv hosted Breidablik at Bloomfield Stadium on Thursday, you could really feel it.
For the home side, fans have been getting used to the fact that Robbie Keane is the team’s head coach - and was making his group stage debut with the Israelis, after a successful qualifying run.
Sixteen years ago, he scored in the same stadium as a Tottenham player against Hapoel Tel Aviv in the UEFA Cup group stage.
The guests from Iceland have had a long journey to reach this moment.
They played in the preliminary round of the Champions League back in June, before working their way through to the Conference League group stage - the first Icelandic team to reach this stage.
Robbie Keane, first group stage match in the career with Maccabi Tel Aviv (Shaul Greenfeld)
The first strike came in the 12th minute, Yvann Macon scored with a long-range shot.
For the 24-year-old Frenchmen, this is his first season playing in a European competition, and now he has scored his first goal.
Halfway through the first half, Maccabi scored again, as Joris van Overeem passed the ball gently to Eran Zahavi who scored the 42nd European goal in his career - more than any other Israeli player.
Just after the half hour mark, Dan Biton converted a deflected Dor Peretz shot to put the Israelis 3-0 up.
To have any chance of staying in the game, Breidablik needed to score before half-time - and a counter-attack goal from Klaemint Olsen saw the Icelandic side do just that.
Olsen is one of the few non-native players in the Breidablik squad, coming from the Faroe Islands.
They carried on that momentum into the second half, with Olsen heading in a Hoskuldur Gunnlaugson cross to make it 3-2.
Eran Zahavi, another goal in the road to Maccabi Tel Aviv first win against Breidablik (Shaul Greenfeld)
Despite the game slowing down towards the end, Breidablik aren’t used to this level of pace, and failed to challenge Maccabi again.
This opening game win for Maccabi seems them start their Conference League campaign with a much-needed three points. Two years ago they reached the knockout stages, and they’ll be hoping to do the same again.
Edited by Alex Smith
Thumbnail photo by Shaul Greenfeld
