Hapoel Beer Sheva came up short against Sabah as they fell 5-2 (6-4 on aggregate) and were knocked out of UEFA Champions League contention in a dramatic clash in Azerbaijan. The southern reds will drop down and play in the Europa League league stage as their Champions League dreams were dashed seconds before full-time.

With Ran Kozuk’s team holding on to a slim 4-3 aggregate lead late in the game, Tellur Mutallimov scored just ahead of the final whistle to send the clash into overtime where Orphe Mbina’s goal and Joy-Lance Mickels insurance marker sent Sabah to the promised land and saw Beer Sheva’s dream come to a crashing conclusion.

Hapoel Beer Sheva captain Miguel Vitor spoke about the loss, “I feel very bad, we wrecked about 30 seconds to finish the game and qualifying. I have no words as how I feel, these moments are very tough. These are moments that are hard to repeat and there are a lot of things in my head that this would be the last chance to qualify. I feel bad for the entire organization. It’s tough for everybody. I don’t know what else to say.”

Beer Sheva Head Coach Ran Kozuk spoke about the loss, “I have to thank God for putting us in the position that we have been. I know an Israeli coach who lost the Champions League final and I also know that Hapoel Beer Sheva will come back even stronger from this. We all wanted to play in the Champions League but we also have too understand that Sabah was a very good team and now we will play in a very good competition, the Europa League which is an honor in itself.”

“I don’t know what to say about Diop’s second yellow card, I’ll keep my mouth shut about that. But some many players really did a great job and we will stay together going forward. We couldn’t create what we needed to in this game but we changed formations in order to try and help us out. Ultimately we didn’t deserve to advance and Sabah did.”

Beer Sheva looked to take a quick lead in order to close in on a Champions League league stage spot and almost did so in the 2nd minute of the match when Igor Zlatanovic was left all alone in front of the goal, but his marker was ruled to just be offside. However, by the the 10th minute Zlatanovic put home a Niv Yehoshua’s rebound to grab a 1-0 lead.

Sabah looked to draw even but Beer Sheva keeper Ofir Marciano was up to the task with multiple saves but the reds goal scorer Zlatanovic had to be substituted off due to an injury as Muhammed Abu Romi entered the fray soon thereafter. As the hosts pushed for the equalizer in earnest get found it via Christian Nwachukwu as the two sides headed into the break knotted up at 1-1 (3-2 on aggregate in favor of Beer Sheva).

Beer Sheva captain Miguel Vitor was subbed off at halftone due to an injury to his chest, while Yehoshua tried to give Ran Kozuk’s squad breathing room as the second half began but his screamer just cleared the bar. At the other end Joy-Lance Mickels hit the woodwork and Mwachukwu’s chance missed the target while Ofir Marciano made a miraculous kick save on Mickels as well.

But just as the Sabah keeper Stas Pokalitov cleared the ball he did so right to Guy Mizrachi who calmly sent it right back and into the goal for a 2-1 Beer Sheva lead in the 61st minute. However, ten minutes later, Saban caught the southern reds sleeping when Umarali Rakhmonaliev slotted the ball past Marciano to draw even at 2-2 in the match and pulled to within 4-3 on aggregate.

As Beer Sheva tried to hold on as the minutes clicked off of the clock, they conceded again with just seconds left in regulation as Tellur Mutallimov slammed home a corner kick to help Sabah grab a 3-2 lead and 4-4 on aggregate to send the game into overtime.

Xander Severina had a point blank chance that was just blocked by Marciano as the extra session began, while Orphe Mbina also had an incredible chance that was somehow saved. But after Djibril Diop was issued a second yellow card for what seemed to be a phantom foul which reduced Beer Sheva to ten men, Mbina made them pay with a stunning strike to give Sabah a 4-2 lead and 5-4 on aggregate.

Beer Sheva tried to get back into the game but Mickels added an insurance marker while Peretz was sent off with a second yellow as Sabah kept the game under control to close out the victory and drop the Israeli side to the Europa League.