‘You’ve brought great pride to all Israelis. We’ll be crossing our fingers for you in the Champions League’
Israel’s Maccabi Haifa soccer team on Tuesday advanced to the Champions League group stage for the first time in over a decade, beating Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade 5-4 on aggregate in the Balkan country.
Following a thrilling 3-2 win at Sammy Ofer Stadium in the northern Israeli city of Haifa last week, Maccabi’s win came in dramatic style on a 90th-minute own-goal from the Serbian side, clinching the 2-2 tie.
The win means Israel’s “Greens” will join 31 other teams in European soccer’s biggest competition, where it will compete against the best-of-the-best teams for a shot at the UEFA Championship.
It will be Maccabi Haifa’s third-ever appearance in the group stage, and the first for an Israeli team since Maccabi Tel Aviv’s run in 2015.
Haifa found itself in a hole early after a goal in the 27th minute and another score 15 minutes later, going down 2-0.
But seconds after an Israeli penalty shot was blocked, Maccabi defender Daniel Sundgren sent a strike from almost 100 feet out to make the score 2-1 heading into halftime.
As a scoreless second half came to a close and the teams headed to a tie on aggregate – the combined number of goals scored over two or more games – a corner kick by Maccabi’s Omer Atzili was awkwardly deflected by a Serbian player, sending it into his own net to give Israel the lead and the win.
“You’ve brought great pride to all Israelis,” Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a congratulatory message to the team. “We’ll be crossing our fingers for you in the Champions League.”