Expensive signings? This is the star of Hapoel Tel Aviv's impressive victory in Europe

Over the past year, Hapoel Tel Aviv has made some of the most expensive signings in the club's history, but yesterday, Thursday, the star of the 2-0 victory over Katowice in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the Conference League was Roi Alkokin. The 22-year-old, who arrived at the Wolfson training ground as a youth player from Beitar Jerusalem, was simply magnificent and scored the second goal with a wonderful and unforgettable performance.

Just as in the first match against Ludogorets in the previous round, Hapoel showed superiority and won 2-0 thanks to excellent preparation by Elyaniv Barda. Alkokin, starting as a number 10 midfielder, was highly active and could have scored at least one more goal.

Hapoel, which will head to the second leg scheduled for Wednesday, remained in Hungary until the flight to Poland on Tuesday to allow the players to rest instead of flying back to Israel and returning to Europe four days later. Significant security measures are expected around the 'Reds' due to the nature of the Polish fans' radical tendencies and fears of attempts to harm Hapoel supporters.

The team was satisfied with the game, including the performance of defender Marcus Coco, who again replaced Doron Leidner due to the latter's numerous errors. A major bright spot for the 'Reds' was the performance of Emmanuel Boateng, whose interception set up Alkokin's goal, while substitute Daniel Dapa missed a one-on-one chance against the Polish goalkeeper.

If Hapoel advances past Katowice, it will face Atalanta in the next round, which finished seventh in its league last season. New signing Douglas Owusu is expected to play in the second leg against Katowice next week and will make his debut in red. The Ghanaian midfielder was registered for the European matches on Wednesday, but since he only arrived in Hungary at night, he was not included in the squad.