There are games that define a career, those that after retirement are remembered and marked as key moments. Today, exactly 19 years ago (November 6, 2003), Roni Levy’s Maccabi Haifa reached one of the toughest pitches in Europe – the Mastaiyeh.
The greens, who were under constant attack from some of the biggest stars on the continent at the time such as Pablo Aymar, Vicente and Ruben Barja, squeezed a sensational 0:0 against the top Spanish team – which was at the height of its power in those years.
A part of the achievement can be attributed to the defensive standing of Eric Benado, Alon Harazi, Adorem Casey, Avicii Zhanno and Eric Ajeifor, but the one who made the real difference in the game was Nir Davidovich who played the best game of his career, one that earned him a nickname that he will stick with until At the end of his career, and even after it: “The Octopus”.
“The Haifa players did not get into situations, but luckily they have a goalkeeper who is an octopus,” it was written at the time in“ace”“he mentioned Francesco Toledo. Davidovic stopped ball after ball and was indomitable.”
Also in“Marca” Join the compliments for the Israeli goalkeeper: “Valencia controlled the whole game, but the Israeli goalkeeper was everywhere. The strikers had no chance against him.”
The one who was also part of the 11 greens that went on the grass at Mastaya was Idan Tal. The former midfielder, who was part of Maccabi Haifa’s golden era and is considered one of the dominant players in the streak of three championships under Roni Levy between 2004 and 2006.
“In retrospect, I can say that compared to today, I think they were top 8 in the world,” Tal recalled in a conversation with the Sport Channel. “It was the great Valencia. I think it’s a huge achievement to get such a result away from home. But in any case, it was a huge result in a money-time game,” the midfielder added.
Tal, who played overseas for Merida, Everton, Rayo and Icano and Bolton, explained that not much has changed when it comes to the differences between Israeli and European football: “If we try to compare, then almost nothing has changed in 19 years. Take Valencia and take Benfica – it’s the same The idea. The level differences are huge and unfortunately nothing has changed in terms of our football.”
But like everyone else, Idan Tal also knew very well what made the difference between 0:0 and a painful defeat: “The one who made the big difference, and on the day he was ‘wow’ and a super star, as if he received powers from heaven, because there is no way to explain it – is Nir Davidovich. He was 90% of the game and we were 10%. There’s no way to overstate it, he really had a crazy day, a huge day. We did everything we could so that they didn’t get to him, but when a team like that moves the ball – it’s very difficult to stop it.”
Tal recalls with a smile what he said to the goalkeeper during the game, when he saved the greens time and time again: “The rhythm didn’t allow us to talk. I remember I gave him about 30 blows on the back during the game – ‘Well done, keep it up’, ‘Well done, keep it up’, Wow’, ‘Wow’ – every time something different.”
