Eran Zahavi brace gives Maccabi Tel Aviv draw in Basel

Basel were denied a first-leg victory in their Champions League qualifier as Eran Zahavi's 96th-minute goal earned Maccabi Tel Aviv a 2-2 draw.

The hosts came close to taking the lead within the opening 10 minutes when Birkir Bjarnason's early effort was kept out by Juan Pablo.

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Urs Fischer's side suffered a setback when they were forced to replace Austrian midfielder Marc Janko, but they nearly broke the deadlock when Michael Lang took aim at the visitors' goal, but he dragged his effort wide.

However, Maccabi managed to take the lead just after the half-hour mark as a pinpoint Avraham Riken free kick found Eran Zahavi in space before the Tel Aviv captain beat Tomas Vaclik from close range.

Basel were given the chance to equalise when they were awarded a penalty late in the first half after ex-Chelsea centre-back Tal Ben Haim brought down Mathias Delgado in the area.

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The Argentine midfielder dusted himself down before beating Pablo from the spot to take the Swiss champions into the break on level terms.

Slavisa Jokanovic's team nearly restored their advantage within moments of the restart when Eytan Tibi's shot was tipped away by Vaclik.

Basel then wasted several chances, with Luca Zuffi, Mohamed Elneny and Bjarnason all missing the target with efforts as time ticked away.

The hosts looked to have seized victory in the dying moments as Elneny's slide-rule pass found Breel Embolo before the teenager stroked the ball past Pablo.

However, Zahavi popped up in the sixth minute of stoppage time to head in and give the Israeli outfit a second away goal.