In one of the biggest upsets in Israeli sports history to date, Maccabi Haifa blanked Juventus 2-0 thanks to a first half brace by Omer Atzily on Matchday 4 of the UEFA Champions League. The victory was not only the Greens first in this year’s competition, but it was also their first in Champions League play since 2002 when they downed Manchester United 3-0 in a home game that was played in Cyprus due to the Second Intifada.
Haifa began the game well pressing the Italian squad from the outset as their efforts paid off with the quickest goal by an Israeli club in the Champions League when Barak Bachar’s team found the back of the Juventus net in the 7th minute. Defensive back Pierre Cornud came streaking down the left side of the pitch and sent a cross that went off of Omer Atzily’s back and just behind Wojciech Szczęsny as he couldn’t stop the ball from crossing the line sending the Carmel Greens faithful into pandemonium.

Photo Credit: Maccabi Haifa
With Barak Bachar’s team looking for an insurance marker, Atzily once again was at the forefront when he sent a left footed screamer into the top right hand corner of Juventus goal for a 2-0 lead as the hosts controlled the pace of play for the entire second half to take the win.
“This was a big win,” Bachar commented after the victory. “We lost in the Israeli league to newly promoted Bnei Reineh but win here against Juventus. We are still disappointed by the league losses and it’s sitting in our minds. But we came into this game to play our game on our field. We wanted to win but we also knew we were playing a very high quality team. But when you do things right for 90 minutes, that is what wins the game and we also have quality.”
“I knew we could make the switch from the league to a game like this. There was motivation right from the start of our preparations but we need to be able to make those switches easier. Right now we have 24 hours to change our mindset and begin getting ready for Hadera.”

Omer Atzily – Photo Credit: Maccabi Haifa
Goal scorer Omer Atzily also looked back at the win, “At the start we didn’t believe that we could do anything big, maybe take a couple of points, but now that we snatched 3 points we are all believing that anything is possible. There is nothing like playing at Sammy Ofer Stadium with our fans. Sometimes when you go to bed and close your eyes you think of moments like this. If I can score in the Israeli league I can score here as well. Now we have to think about the next match.”
The victory gives Haifa their first points of the Champions League and find themselves in a battle for third place in Group H with two matches remaining at home against Benfica and away at Paris St. Germain. Should the Greens finish in third place at the end of the six game group stage they will head to the knockout stages of the Europa League while the top two teams go to the Champions League knockouts and the fourth place club ends their participation in European competition for the 2022/23 campaign.
“The battle for third place is wide open,” Bachar noted. “It won’t be easy to record points in the next couple of games but anything is possible and this team can do anything they can do it all. according to the table, third place is realistic. Of course we know that our two final games will be very difficult but we have time until we play them as we have two tough Israeli league games first.”

Photo Credit: Maccabi Haifa
The last time an Israeli team won a Champions League game was back in 2010 when Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Benfica from Portugal 3-0 and while Maccabi Haifa now have one win, head coach Barak Bachar is looking to solidify their standing in third place but knows that Atzily will be a critical piece for the teams success going forward.
“Atzily deserves this game as he has worked very hard and last game he had chances but just missed them,” Bachar commented. “In this game everything can together for him and I am happy. Atzily isn’t just any other player and there is a big difference when you are playing at home. The fans really pushed us hard. He deserved it.”
The upset win also comes with a financial prize of close to 3 million Euros which is an added bonus for the club’s finances and budget. Maccabi Haifa is also the team with the lowest budget of a shade under $21 million compared to Juventus’s which is over $500 million for the 22/23 campaign making the improbable win even that more stunning.
The victory is arguably the Greens biggest in European play due to the fact that the win over Manchester United back in 2002 was against primary backups as the English club had nothing to play for in that game as they had already advanced to the knockout round of the competition from first place.

Photo Credit: Maccabi Haifa
For Juventus, the defeat is not only shocking but also humbling as they have had all kinds of issues this season both domestically and in continental play and perhaps this is the last straw for their embattled coach Massimiliano Allegri.
“The performance was not up to par,” the Juventus bench boss said. “Especially from a character point of view. We just have to keep quiet, work and get out of this situation. The problem is that we should be playing as a team. We play too much individually instead. It was one of our worst first halves ever. Now we have to work because it is not right to play like this.”
Juventus defender Danilo echoed his coach’s sentiments, ”It is difficult to say something. We are also disappointed for the fans, now we have to analyze together what is not working. I find it hard to think that a Juventus player can be so nervous, in recent times, when there are difficulties we hide, we stop playing and start playing long ball. I disagree with this attitude. It is not enough to say that we are Juventus, we have to prove on the pitch who we are. Since I arrived I have always said that the focus must always be on the next match and this is not changing now.”

Neta Lavi – Photo Credit: Maccabi Haifa
“We believed in ourselves and this was a crazy game,” Haifa captain Neta Lavi said. “The team effort was incredible and we all stayed close together which made us look better on the pitch. We know that when we play these types of games if we are not good and makes mistakes that we will be punished. But I am happy with our performance.”
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