From Abu Snan to the Champions League: The new hero of Hapoel Be'er Sheva

The young man from Abu Snan, a village of less than 15,000 residents in the Western Galilee, who took his first steps on the modest pitches of Mateh Asher and Mi'ilya, became the great hero of Hapoel Be'er Sheva yesterday, Tuesday. Zahi Ahmed, who arrived less than three years ago from Hapoel Acre, was not intimidated by the star-studded, high-budget squad of Red Star Belgrade, looked them in the eye, and scored the most prestigious goal of his career — one that gave the Israeli champion a 1:0 victory and a significant advantage ahead of the return leg at the Marakana Stadium next week in the Champions League qualifiers.

Ahmed, who will celebrate his 25th birthday next week, is emerging as one of Ran Kozuch's strongest cards in the European campaign. After already finding the net against Vikingur in the previous round, he delivered the goods again, and not just because of the winning goal. The striker displayed extraordinary sacrifice, pressed non-stop, helped in defense, and was one of the standouts on the pitch.

"Hapoel Be'er Sheva and its players defeated Red Star. The cards were reshuffled, we had to suffer — and also enjoy the suffering," said coach Kozuch at the end. "We knew it was an excellent team, and the sending-off made everything harder. This tie is still open, we are only halfway there and need to remain humble."

Kozuch, who managed the game impressively even after the sending-off of Matan Baltaxa in the 58th minute, complimented his players on their tactical discipline: "The most important thing was to play our football, to be brave, to press high, and to move the ball better. We knew we would have to sacrifice to deal with Red Star's quality. We are still in a rebuilding process, but we remained hungry and want to achieve everything. I knew we would put on a good performance thanks to the players' passion and belief. Now one of the toughest stadiums in Europe awaits us, but we will do everything to advance."

The victory brings Be'er Sheva within just 90 minutes — or 120 in case of extra time — of reaching the Champions League playoffs, where they may meet Danish side AGF Aarhus or Azerbaijani side Sabah. Advancing to the next round will guarantee the club a bonus of 5.5 million euros, in addition to the approximately three million euros already guaranteed, while reaching the Champions League group stage will bring about 18 million euros into the club's coffers. At the same time, the club continues to work on strengthening the squad, with the intention of adding a replacement for Kings Kangwa and another center-back before the playoff stage.

Be'er Sheva arrived at the match as a clear underdog against the Serbian champion, which holds a budget six times larger than that of the team from the Negev capital. The unconvincing performance against Vikingur and the loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champion of Champions match did not contribute to a sense of confidence, but from the start, it was clear that the gaps on paper were not reflected on the pitch. This was also Be'er Sheva's first test without Kings Kangwa, who moved to Panathinaikos and watched the game from his home in Athens. Kozuch chose to field Eliel Peretz in his place, who, alongside Lucas Ventura and Niv Yehoshua, controlled the center of the pitch and gave his team a significant advantage. The coach's other decisions — to start with Itay Rotman in the center of defense and Javon East in the front line — also proved themselves. On the other hand, Red Star, which can afford to leave players like Marko Arnautovic, Luis Ibanez, and several Serbian national team players on the bench, struggled greatly to create chances in the first half. Mohammad Abu Fani also failed to influence the game, while Omri Glazer's replacement in goal, Brazilian Matheus Magalhaes, gave Be'er Sheva a gift in the 38th minute with a severe mistake, which Ahmed exploited to score the winning goal.