Hapoel Beer Sheva suffered a disappointing 2–0 defeat to OFI Crete on Thursday night in the fourth round of the UEFA Europa League league phase, further complicating their European campaign. Ran Kozuk’s side entered the match riding high after back-to-back domestic victories in which they scored five goals in each game.

Hoping to finally secure their first European victory, Beer Sheva instead came up short against the Greek Cup holders in a match played in Romania, where the Israeli side were forced to host their European fixture. The defeat leaves Beer Sheva with just one point from their first four matches, while OFI Crete picked up their second league-phase victory to strengthen their position in the standings.

The match opened at an energetic pace, with both sides creating opportunities early on. Zahi Ahmed was the first to threaten, but his effort was inadvertently blocked by teammate Djibril Diop. At the other end, goalkeeper Ofir Marciano nearly gifted the Greeks an opportunity after a dangerous turnover inside the penalty area, but the visitors failed to capitalize.

In the 19th minute, Ahmed rose to meet a cross with a header that forced an excellent save from the OFI goalkeeper. Seven minutes later, Taxiarchis Fountas nearly opened the scoring with a thunderous effort from outside the box that crashed off the crossbar. Beer Sheva continued to push for the breakthrough, with Adrian Ugarriza heading narrowly over and Ahmed being denied by the goalkeeper once again. However, just when it appeared the sides would head into halftime scoreless, OFI struck.

In the second minute of first-half stoppage time, Achilleas Poungouras collected a rebound and fired a powerful effort that struck the post before finding the back of the net. The goal was reviewed by VAR following a suspected offside, but ultimately stood, sending Beer Sheva into the break trailing 1–0.

The Israeli side came out looking to respond after halftime but struggled to turn their opportunities into goals. In the 52nd minute, Yonas Malede tried his luck from outside the box, but the Greek goalkeeper was once again up to the task. Just four minutes later, OFI delivered another blow. Fountas produced a stunning long-range strike, sending the ball into the top corner beyond Marciano to double the visitors’ advantage and make it 2–0.

Kozuk responded with attacking substitutions, introducing Amir Ganah and Igor Zlatanovic in an attempt to spark a comeback. However, Beer Sheva continued to struggle in front of goal. In the 71st minute, Zlatanovic headed just over the crossbar following a delivery from Guy Mizrahi. Hamudi Kna’an later came close on two occasions, but the OFI goalkeeper stood firm to preserve the clean sheet.

Despite their efforts to get back into the contest, Beer Sheva could not find a breakthrough, suffering another frustrating European defeat and leaving themselves with plenty of work to do in the remaining matches of the league phase.

Following the match, Kozuk expressed his frustration with the goals his team conceded and the overall performance, “I think both goals are goals we shouldn’t be conceding. Our level of concentration needs to be on a completely different level if we want to win. We’re not creating enough. We got into dangerous positions quite often and quite easily, but we need to show more intensity. This is the competition, and we’re happy to be part of it. We’ll have to show up and perform.”