Maccabi Haifa punched their ticket to the third round of UEFA Champions League qualifying after defeating Sheriff Tiraspol 4-1 (4-2 on aggregate) in dramatic fashion. The Greens went down 1-0 early to the Moldovan side but were able to dig their way out of a two goal hole on strikes by Tjaron Chery and Mahmoud Jaber late in regulation time to send the game to overtime. However, Sheriff lost two players to red cards just ahead of the extra session which gave Messay Dego’s a massive advantage as Haifa scored twice more via Dean David and Erik Shuranov to take the win.

Next up for Haifa will be Slovan Bratislava as the Israeli squad will look to move on to the Playoff Round and make their way back to the groups stages of Europe’s most prestigious league for the second season in a row. Should they not make it to the Champions League, Haifa are still guaranteed of playing in the group stages of either the Europa League of they lose in the playoff round or the Conference League should they not pass Bratislava.

Both sides began the game cautiously but it was the visitors who struck first when Lior Refaelov’s foul on Kostas Apostolakis sent Amine Talal to the penalty spot where he sent the Greens keeper Itamar Nitzan the wrong direction and slotted the ball home for a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute. However, Tjaron Chery’s left footed stunner from outside of the box sent the sides headed into the break all knotted up at 1-1.

Each squad traded chances to begin the second half, but it was Mahmoud Jaber with an 85th minute screamer that gave Messay Dego’s squad a 2-1 lead but most importantly a 2-2 tie on aggregate. With Sheriff struggling, they then lost two players to red cards as Henrique Luvannor and Amine Talal to leave the visitors with just 9 players as the contest headed to a thirty minute overtime period.

With Haifa pressing for a winner, Suf Podgoreanu sent Dean David a gorgeous pass in the box as he flipped the ball over a helpless Sheriff keeper while Erik Shuranov also found the back of the goal to polish off the win.

“I knew that it would be a tough game,” Dego said following the game.”But I said at the half that we just had to keep moving the ball we would be fine and that’s what happened. We are pretty tired right now but we will relax a bit and come back ready to go in the next game. It was a night of many emotions and I have never experienced anything like this is my life.”

Dean David reflected on the win, “It’s always fun to score and it doesn’t matter when. We all work hard in practice and I am happy that my goal helped out the team. I feel good and I am in good shape so I hope that my play will continue.”