Beitar Jerusalem defeated AEK Larnaca 4-3 on aggregate as the yellow-and-black advanced via a penalty shootout that saw keeper Miguel Silva make a pair of saves to send Almog Cohen’s squad into the third round of UEFA Conference League qualifying where they will face Austria Wein. After a 1-0 win by Beitar in the first leg that was held in Cyprus, the second leg of the two-legged tie moved to Ploiesti, Romania where the Jerusalem based club will play their European home matches due to the security situation in Israel.

AEK opened the scoring with a penalty by Hrvoje Miliceveic after a handball by Boris Enow allowed the Cypriots to take a 1-0 lead. However, just ahead of the break, Omer Atzily was pulled down in the box and found the equalizer via the penalty spot to head into halftime knotted up at 1-1. AEK grabbed the lead early on in the second half when Milicevic scored off a brilliant free kick over the Beitar wall to snatch a 2-1 advantage in the 52nd minute.

As the match looked like it was headed towards a thirty minute overtime period, Omer Atzily sent a scorcher from 30 meters out to give the yellow-and-black a 3-2 lead on aggregate in the 87th minute. But during injury time Beitar keeper Miguel Silva fumbled the ball as Riad Bajic pounced on it and drew AEK even at 3-3 on aggregate to send it into the extra period of play.

Following thirty minutes of goalless play in the overtime period it was on to penalties as Beitar made four in a row with the last coming via Timoti Muzie, while Silva made two key saves in the shootout to send the yellow-and-black into the next round of qualification.

Almog Cohen summed up the victory, “It’s a very important win. I think we played an excellent match against a team that today showed its experience in these competitions. It ended in the sweetest way possible. Before the match, I talked about what I believe is the most important quality for a football player. I really gave it a lot of thought, and I told them it’s courage. Because at the end of the day, when someone loses the ball, they need the courage to come back and ask for it again. When you miss a shot, you need the courage to take another one. I reminded them of that and told them, ‘I’m behind you 100%, no matter what happens here.’ I said, ‘Remember when I told you that you need courage? Well, this is our courage, to respond after conceding a goal by playing with complete confidence and belief, and to go on and win this game.’”