Hapoel Beer Sheva will look to make history on Tuesday night when they face Sabah in Azerbaijan for the right to play in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League. After their 2\u20131 victory in the first leg, the Israeli champions know that a win or even a draw will send them to the promised land for the first time in the club\u2019s history. <\/p>\n
Prior to the match, Head Coach Ran Kozuk and goalkeeper Ofir Marciano spoke about the great challenge ahead of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cSabah will have the home advantage and it\u2019s something we\u2019ll have to deal with. It\u2019s also something we\u2019ve been talking about. Obviously, the bigger the competition a team plays in, the greater the advantage it has when it comes to the players we want to sign going forward. We\u2019ve been talking to players for some time and I believe this can help advancing to the Champions League, but it\u2019s not what determines things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery game involves mistakes and we\u2019ll try to make as few as possible. The entire squad is fit. I\u2019m happy that my family is here and their support is very important to me. I hope they\u2019ll be part of our celebration, God willing. Superstitions? My belief is not to use superstitions. I don\u2019t think whatever happens will hurt us in the league. Regardless of what happens, we\u2019re putting all our energy into winning the game, getting through it and being part of the Champions League. The team has proven that it knows how to deal with everything. The achievement is a big one and we\u2019ll do everything we can to do our best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ofir Marciano also spoke about the match ahead, \u201cWe feel good, we feel very prepared. We understand the significance of the game and what we need to do. We\u2019re facing a good opponent, we respect them, but we believe in ourselves. We\u2019ll have to come in focused and understand the different moments of the game. It sounds clich\u00e9, but we\u2019ll have to give everything on the pitch and be precise, and I believe things will work out well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are always dreams; that\u2019s human nature. Qualifying for the Champions League would be one of the happiest moments of my life and of everyone at the club, but we\u2019re only halfway there. We understand the significance of the game. We spend more time with each other than with our families, so we\u2019ll be one big family. We do everything together, even pray. We\u2019re trying to prepare ourselves in the best possible way for this game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hapoel Beer Sheva will look to make history on Tuesday night when they face Sabah in Azerbaijan for the right to play in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League. After their 2\u20131 victory in the first leg, the Israeli champions know that a win or even a draw will send them to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":189137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-189135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-israel-2","tag-hapoel-beer-sheva","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n