In Champions League qualifying action, Maccabi Haifa moved onto the playoff round of the competition with a 4-2 aggregate win over Apollon Limassol despite falling 2-0 to the Cypriot club in the second leg. The Greens gave up a pair of early goals to the hosts as Hervin Ongenda and Israel Coll found the back of Josh Cohen’s net to put all kinds of pressure on Barak Bacahar’s side.

However, it wasn’t enough to wipe out a 4-0 first leg victory in Israel as Haifa will now ready for Red Star Belgrade for a ticket to the group stages of the Champions League as the Serbian outfit eased past Pyunik from Armenia 7-0 on aggregate. Should Haifa not find a way past their next challenge they will play in the group stages of the Europa League where the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Roma will be waiting. The two legged tie gets underway next week when Red Star visit Sammy Ofer Stadium on Wednesday August 17.

“This is soccer and anything can happen which is what we saw in this game,” Haifa coach Barak Bachar said. “The result doesn’t totally reflect the game that was as we had many chances to score. All in all our great game at home gave us a huge advantage in order to advance to the playoff round of the Champions League.”

Haifa captain Neta Lavi also reflected on the game, “We were under tremendous pressure after giving up the second goal. We had chances to score but we were pressed and couldn’t score. Hopefully this won’t happen again. We changed our formation in the second half and that helped us regain control. Next up we have a serious challenge in order to get to the group stages and we will be ready.”