Kozuch: "We are approaching the Champions League, but this is only half the way"

Hapoel Be'er Sheva took a significant step toward history on Wednesday, coming back from a deficit to beat Sabah 2:1 in the first leg of the Champions League qualification playoffs. Igor Zlatanovic completed the turnaround in the 79th minute, sending the Israeli champions to the return leg in Azerbaijan with a valuable advantage. Despite the excitement, head coach Ran Kozuch was quick to remind everyone that the mission is still far from over.

"Happiness. But this is only half the way," said the winning coach excitedly. "We deserve this. What we prepared for happened; they are a good transition team. I told my assistant before the goal that we made a mistake. They have advantages and they know how to exploit them. We will need to be precise to pass the stage."

Kozuch warned of the danger awaiting Hapoel in the return leg and recalled what Sabah did in the previous round: "The moment you push the opponent low and load up with many players, mistakes can turn into dangerous situations. One must be grateful for what there is and remain humble. The Danes won 2:1 in the previous round and lost 4:0 to Sabah away."

The coach also complimented the staff and the crowd: "My staff worked overtime in preparation for Sabah. Huge kudos to them for the analysis and kudos to the players who executed. Kudos also to the fans who came. I hope we see more fans later on and feel the Turner here. We need them with us."

In conclusion, Kozuch addressed the character his team showed on the way to the turnaround and the distance remaining to the big dream: "We showed a lot of character and understanding of how we want to play and of our principles and the opponent's. We will try to make it look the same in the return leg as well. We are getting closer to the Champions League. We deserve to celebrate today, and we will arrive tomorrow and start over."

Guy Mizrahi was also excited: "We are very happy with the win. We want to do the job next week as well. We are all happy, but this is only half the way, with all the clichés. We want to fulfill the dream of all of us."

"I am very happy that we rose to the occasion despite the early goal," he continued, "we proved that we are a better team and we will need to be ready for next week. We were not surprised by them, we knew they were strong in transitions."

On the support they received from the many fans who came: "The crowd gave us a huge push today. They helped us not to panic and we love them."