Almog Cohen: "After we struggled, there was only one team on the pitch"

Beitar Jerusalem achieved a valuable victory this Thursday in the Conference League qualifiers, beating AEK Larnaca 0-1 away and securing a significant advantage ahead of the second leg, which will be hosted in Romania in a week. After their fans were attacked before the match, the team led by Almog Cohen focused solely on football and held the upper hand, especially in the second half, after Omer Atzili and Yardan Cohen were benched. Ultimately, a free kick by Brian Karbally in the 77th minute secured the win.

"We struggled at the beginning," admitted Almog Cohen. "AEK pressed us and created some good opportunities. After that, in my opinion, there was only one team on the pitch, and they barely threatened us. My players deserve a lot of respect. I am very happy with the result. AEK is a good team, but I believe that if we play our football in the second leg, we can advance. It will undoubtedly be another difficult game."

Cohen added: "I was very pleased with the players and the effort they displayed. When we had a numerical advantage, I wanted us to move the ball faster, create more chances, and try to score another goal. In knockout games, you need to know how to identify such situations. Ultimately, I must give a lot of credit to my players. They faced a very good opponent with high quality and a lot of experience. Maybe we don't have much experience in the Conference League, but as a team, we showed maturity. You could see it in the way we moved the ball. There were situations where we could have immediately gone on a counterattack, but I asked the players to continue holding the ball. When the ball is with us, the opponent is less dangerous, and we can be more dangerous."

Regarding the Beitar fans who were attacked outside the stadium, Cohen said: "Regarding other issues, there are people in the club whose area of responsibility this is, and they are handling it. I know that the club cares deeply about the team and our fans, and we want to ensure we do not disappoint them. From our perspective, the fans are not just part of the club — they are the club itself."

On the other hand, the losing coach Mauro Camoranesi said: "There were two different halves. In the first 20 minutes, we started well and controlled the game. We had great opportunities to take the lead. After the water break, we retreated, but we were not really under threat. After the red card, everything changed. We were left with ten players, and in the continuation of that same move, we conceded. We will arrive at the second leg to change the picture. When you have opportunities, you must score. Whoever scores gets the result. There is no reason to change anything in our plan. It is important that we know how to manage our moments, and when we reach the moment where we need to strike, we will do it."