Beersheba does just enough to progress
It was far from pretty, but Hapoel Beersheba won’t care one bit after advancing to the Champions League third qualifying round on Tuesday night with a 0-0 draw against FC Sheriff Tiraspol in Moldova, securing a 3-2 aggregate win.
Beersheba was lucky to escape with a 3-2 win from the first leg last week and it was first and foremost focused on maintaining a clean sheet in the return leg. The Israeli Premier League champion did exactly that by limiting the hosts to six total attempts at goal, while it failed to register even a single shot on target throughout the match.
Beersheba needed a 90th-minute penalty by Maharan Radi to claim a tight win at Turner Stadium in a bizarre first leg during which the hosts were awarded three spot kicks, of which they converted two.
Greek champion Olympiacos awaits Beersheba in the third qualifying round, with the first leg to already be played in Athens next week.
Beersheba will host the second leg the following week.
While Beersheba is playing in the Champions League qualifiers for the first time in club history, the six-time reigning Greek champion has participated in the group stage in the past five seasons, reaching the last 16 in 2013/14.
Beersheba needs to overcome three rounds of qualifiers in all to reach the group stage, but by getting the better of Tiraspol it has already ensured itself a place in the Europa League playoffs. A berth in the Europa League playoffs will be awarded to all the teams knocked out in the Champions League third qualifying round.
Beersheba is playing in European competition for a third straight season, but it won its first tie in almost two decades on Tuesday. The last time it progressed in continental play was in the 1997/98 season when it overcame Zalgiris Vilnius of Lithuania in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup qualifying round.
It will be hoping there is no repeat of what followed next when it faces Olympiacos, with Beersheba suffering an embarrassingly memorable 14-1 aggregate defeat to Dutch side Roda 19 years ago, which included a 10-0 loss in the second leg on the road.
Beersheba was playing without its latest signing, Brazilian striker Lucio Maranhao. The 27-year-old joined Beersheba on Sunday and will add depth to the squad, which already includes the attacking skills of Elyaniv Barda, Ben Sahar and Anthony Nwakaeme.
Lucio, who played for Clube de Regatas Brasil last season, will be playing outside his homeland for the second time in his career, spending one season at Buriram United in Thailand in 2014.
It took Sheriff only five minutes to register its first scoring opportunity on Tuesday, with Beersheba ’keeper Dudu Goresh doing well to clear Josip Brezovec’s free kick.
Goresh experienced a nightmare first leg, but he was far more composed in Moldova and was well placed to deny Zoran Kvrzic’s attempt in the 24th minute. He had little work otherwise, with Sheriff’s goalkeeper Bozhidar Mitrev having even less to do as the visitors were happy to settle for long-range efforts.
The goalkeepers were almost completely out of work in the second half, but Beersheba had absolutely no problem with that, getting the result it needed despite Ovidiu Hoban’s sending off in stoppage time.