On October 1 there was a moment that Eliezer will never forget. In 1998, Maccabi Haifa played against PSG in the European Cup for Cup Holders, and the rest is history. In the first round of the European Cup, the green holders met the Hafar team from France. After an amazing 1:1 in France, the representative of Israel came to a home match against PSG, in one of the biggest games in the history of Maccabi Haifa.
The big and shiny Paris Saint-Germain from France arrived, but it didn’t dazzle the greens too much, who together with Kiryat Eliezer bursting with 18,000 fans registered one of the biggest victories in their history with a dramatic 2:3. A lead goal by Casey and a double by Alon Mizrahi, one of them a winning goal in the 90th minute, lifted Maccabi Haifa a step up at the expense of the powerhouse from France, only three months after the national team won the World Cup.
“Maccabi Haifa? A very likely draw,” PSG coach Alain Ziers underestimated Maccabi Haifa. PSG benefited from a budget of 406 million Swiss francs, compared to only 25 million for Maccabi Haifa. “PSG underestimated Maccabi Haifa and paid dearly for it. It did not prepare tactically at all, its mind was on the match against Monaco in the league,” it was written in France, “PSG was already leading 0:1 at Parc de France, then A 17-year-old boy, Yossi Banyon stunned her and equalized 1:1. Later, the same Banyon moved to Liverpool and Arsenal.”
After the 1:1 and before the game in Israel, Charles Beatry publicly attacked the players: “The players are not professionals. If I say what I think about them, an automatic war will start.”
PSG took the return game seriously and even held a training session in Caesarea to get used to the hot weather in Israel, which did not help her in the game in Kiryat Eliezer. “This is the biggest disappointment of my career,” concluded the PSG player at the time, Nicholas Owadek, “this is an unforgivable defeat.”
The headlines in “L’Equipe” also continued in a similar vein: “Paris is simply ridiculous. It’s the entire collapse of the team, and it’s a shame.” Since that game, PSG went on to a season in which they fired 3 coaches and included countless scandals, but be sure that the name Maccabi Haifa, you remember from that moment.