Photo: Roy Shani’s Twitter
There are surprising interactions, only when they happen do you understand the story. In the summer, Maccabi Haifa beat Olympiakos 0:4 in a result that was the beginning of the journey to the group stage of the Champions League, but beyond the moment that was burned by the Israeli audience, it turns out that this victory was also burned in Greece.
On the one hand, for Olympiakos it was a scar that affected the continuation, and on the other hand, Olympiakos’ rivals, they remembered Maccabi Haifa very well. How much do you remember? This is what Maccabi Haifa learned in the training camp they are holding in Greece these days.
It started with the professional management of Varia from the second league in Greece. The team was supposed to meet Maccabi Haifa in a training match, which was postponed for technical reasons, but the manager, Panaiotis Tsaloucidis, insisted on meeting the Maccabi Haifa men.
For those who don’t know Tsoultsidis is considered a very well-known player in the past of Greek football with 76 appearances for the national team and 235 appearances for Oliphiakos. The former player arrived at Maccabi Haifa’s hotel even though there was no match and asked to take a picture with Frantezadi Piero, the scorer of the pair against Olympiakos. The greens even gave a shirt with the name of Tsoultsidis as recognition, but the love the greens received attracted from another side as well.
After the match against Larisa from the second league in Greece, the team’s players asked for shirts from the Maccabi Haifa players and talked to Atzili, Batvinsika, Abu Pani and Abdoulaye Sak. Maccabi Haifa, for its part, gave the Greek team a shirt signed by all the members of the club, which caused another gesture from Larisa.
“We want to thank Maccabi Haifa for the privilege of playing against the champion of Israel,” reads the tribute shield posted on Larisa’s social networks, “We condemn anti-Semitism and wish all the nice people from Israel not to experience it again.”
The man in the middle played 235 times for Olympiakos, 76 appearances for the Greek national team including the one against Maradona in the 94 World Cup.
Panaeotis tsalocidis.And what he wanted was to take a picture with Piero, the man and the duo in front of Olympiakos.
The honor is ours. pic.twitter.com/quFh7pumDr— Roi Shani (@ShaniRoi) December 3, 2022