Maccabi Haifa’s big moment is coming. Holding a 2:3 advantage from the first game against Red Star, Barak Becher’s team will advance tonight (Tuesday, 22:00, live on 5SPORT) in front of tens of thousands of Serbian fans in Belgrade for its return match when it is only 90 minutes away from qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League. Now, it’s time to recall the history of the greens in the playoff rematches of the most prestigious European institution.
Season 1994/1995 – Casino Salzburg
After winning the championship without losing a single game, the greens hoped to continue celebrating in Europe as well. The team, which was decorated with quite a few especially memorable names such as Eyal Berkovic, Haim Rabivo Alon Harazi and Alon Hazan, tried to qualify for the first time for the group stage of the Champions League, but was ultimately disappointed.
After surrendering 2:1 in the game in Israel, Haifa failed to turn things around in the rematch on Austrian soil, this after losing there as well, this time 3:1. A goal by Hazan in the 90th minute didn’t console the Israeli fans very much either, who remained disappointed and waited for the next opportunity after 5:2 in the summary of the two games.
2001/02 – The fax affair
In 2001/02 it seems that Haifa is on its way to a huge meeting. The greens met FC Haka in the second round after 0:1 in Finland, won 0:4 in the return leg and were supposed to meet Liverpool in the third qualifying round.
A day later, UEFA informed Maccabi Haifa that Walid Badir was an illegal participant following his expulsion the previous season and the team was expelled. The team’s appeal was rejected.
Season 2002/03 – Sturm Graz
Eight years after the disappointment in Austria, the correction has arrived – also on Austrian soil. Haifa beat Sturm Graz 0:2 in a “home” game held in Bulgaria due to the security situation in the country and came to the rematch knowing that it had an important advance.
In the decisive match, Haifa fell behind 3:1 and found itself in a particularly stressful situation, but goals by Adorm Casey and Walid Badir (who joined Giovanni Russo’s first goal) calmed the heartbeats of the green fans, on the way to 3:3 and -3:5 in the summary of the two games. The group stage itself, it is likely that all the fans from Carmel remember, after seeing their team run over Manchester United and eventually finish in third place at home.
2004/05 season – Rosenburg
After surrendering 2:1 in the first match on Norwegian soil, Maccabi Haifa was close to a very exciting turnaround in the rematch, but in the end was left empty-handed after tremendous drama and one particularly memorable power outage.
This game contained one of the saddest and most frustrating moments of Maccabi Haifa in Europe. Goals by Walid Badir and Gustavo Bukoli already gave Haifa the advantage in the summation of the two games, when the Greens saw the group stage glimmering around the corner. But the opponent’s goal in a stationary state in the 90th minute sent the teams to fight for qualification in overtime. In the extra 30 minutes, the Norwegians controlled what was going on, took advantage of the mental advantage and enjoyed two goals in the 95th and 116th minutes, which made it 5:3 in the summary of the two games and left the Greens with their heads in their hands.
2006/07 – Liverpool
Years after the fax affair, Haifa met Steven Gerrard’s English Liverpool, two years after winning the factory. After the 2:1 loss at Anfield, the teams split 1:1 in the return leg.
Haifa was relegated to the Europa League and eliminated in the round of 16 against Espanyol, while Liverpool was only stopped in the final against Milan.
2009/10 season – Red Bull Salzburg
The greens once again met an Austrian opponent that separated them from the dream. This time, the euphoria was fulfilled in a particularly memorable pair of games. In the first game at the Red Bull Arena, Haifa looked great en route to an impressive 1:2, but the concert on Israeli soil was several levels above.
Vladimir Devalishvili, Eyal Gulsa and Muhammad Gadir were responsible for the huge green celebration in front of tens of thousands of spectators at the Ramat Gan Stadium and with a crushing 0:3 gave the crowd a great reason to celebrate, on the way to 1:5 in the sum of the two games and a second qualification to the group stage. Later in the campaign, Haifa encountered a particularly prestigious home and played against Juventus, Bayern Munich and Bordeaux, unfortunately ending it with 0 points and 0 goals.
2011/12 season – Genk
After reclaiming the championship title after the trauma of the offset, Maccabi Haifa met Eliniv Breda and his Belgian team in the battle for qualification to the group stage. The first game gave a lot of hope, after an impressive 1:2 victory, but the disappointment in the return game can be felt to this day.
Haifa went into the game in Belgium with quite a few hopes and after falling behind in the 35th minute saw Eyal Golsa equalize two minutes later. However, in the 41st minute, the Belgians regained the lead again, and after the two failed to find the net in the remaining time and in extra time, the drama was sent to be decided from the penalty spot. Then, came the kicks of Eyal Gulsa and Vladimir Devalishvili who missed and sent Genk to the group stage after 4:1 Belgian in penalties. With that, the euphoria that was in the air was replaced by a particularly sour feeling.