Maccabi Tel Aviv could hardly have asked for a better opening statement to their European season, taking apart Sheriff Tiraspol 5-0 away in Moldova in the first leg of their Europa League second qualifying round tie on Thursday night.
The final score line, delivered against a club UEFA rank among the strongest in the qualifying draw and who had not conceded in their previous two European outings this summer, left little doubt about which side controlled the tie.
Sayed Abu Farchi, the 20-year-old striker who has pushed his way into the first-team picture over the past year, scored twice - a fifth-minute header from Ido Shahar's cross to open the scoring, and a 74th-minute penalty to make it 4-0.
Dor Peretz doubled Maccabi's lead in the 29th minute, Sagiv Yehezkel struck early in the second half to make it 3-0, and Issouf Sissokho completed the rout in the 78th minute.
Kenny Miller, the former Scotland striker in his first season as Maccabi's head coach, had made clear before kick-off that Europe was not a box-ticking exercise for a club of Maccabi's stature. "When you represent a big club, competing in Europe is essential - the expectation is to reach the group stage," he said in the buildup, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Club officials, quoted by ONE, called the result "a very significant moment" - winning 5-0 away in Europe in only the team's second competitive match of the season.
The win arrives on the back of a strong run of form: Maccabi lifted the State Cup in May and beat Hapoel Beersheba 3-1 in the Super Cup before this trip to Moldova, with Miller sticking to a similar starting XI throughout.
It was not entirely straightforward off the pitch. Christian Blitz, who had come on as a second-half substitute after returning from injury, was forced off again shortly afterwards and left the pitch visibly upset, a fresh fitness concern for the club to manage.
The second leg is scheduled for next Thursday, July 30, with Maccabi again playing their "home" fixture in Batumi, Georgia rather than at Bloomfield Stadium - a continuation of the away-from-home arrangement Israeli clubs have used for European fixtures amid the ongoing security situation.
A first-leg cushion of this size makes Maccabi firm favourites to advance to the third qualifying round, where they would face the winner of Qarabag's tie with CSKA Sofia; a slip in the second leg would send them instead into the Europa Conference League qualifying path.
