(Video courtesy of Maccabi Haifa)
Maccabi Haifa did the unbelievable and qualified for the Champions League, but the road there was not easy. In fact, already from the famous players’ tunnel in the “Maracana”, the greens could already feel the welcome prepared for them by the Red Star fans. Watch footage of the Greens going through the tunnel in the video player above >>
In “Athletic” they wrote extensively last March about the road to the game itself, and about the famous players’ tunnel in Belgrade. “The atmosphere at the Maracana starts even before the players go onto the field, in a tunnel that has existed since 1963 without major changes. The walk from it to the field is significantly longer, which makes the halftime break 11 minutes instead of the usual 15. This is the longest tunnel in Europe, by a large margin , which increases the pressure on the players.”
“The players have to go through a 240 m long tunnel and cross athletic tracks just to get to the field,” Athletic continued. This is a psychological advantage of the Red Star players, who make the opponent feel as if they have entered a Roman amphitheater. The tunnel is painted in strong colors and is low, so players who are 1.83 m tall or above have to walk bent over.” Haifa, we will remind, has a number of significant players of this height such as Bogdan Palanich, Josh Cohen and Frantzadi Piero.
The walls of the tunnel are extremely thin, so you can easily hear the noise of the stadium and the ultras. The players, in fact, pass under the stands of the heavy fans of the Red Star.