Brilliant Beer’Sheva stun Inter at San Siro
Israeli champions beat Italian giants Inter Milan, but Maccabi Tel Aviv let slip three-goal lead in Europa League.
Andrew Sherwood is the Jewish News Sport and Community Editor
Hapoel Beer’Sheva claimed one of Israeli football’s best ever European club performances as they beat Inter Milan 2-0 on Thursday evening.
Travelling to the iconic San Siro stadium in Milan for their opening group K match in the Europa League, Miguel Vitor fired them ahead in the 54th minute, before Maor Buzaglo doubled the lead with a superb free-kick.
Coach Barak Bakhar said: “Before the game I said we’d be ready, that we had prepared for this carefully, everything we had planned worked and I am very happy with this fantastic result.
“Were Inter poor on the night? I look at what my own team does. Inter are exceptional, but we did well to make them play badly. Inter remain a top level team.”
Their first European win in 19 years, they next host Southampton in their next match in two week’s time.
Elsewhere in Tel Aviv, Maccabi Tel Aviv were the victims of one of the most extraordinary comebacks in the history of European club football as they spurned a 3-0 lead against Russian side Zenit in the last 13 minutes to lose 4-3 in their opening Group D clash.
Haris Medunjanin’ gave the Israelis a 26th minute lead when his cross beat goalkeeper Yuri Lodygin. Vidar Orn Kjartansson’s header doubled their lead and by time time he claimed his second of the match with a stunning free-kick with just 20 minutes of the game left, the home side seemed set for a routine win.
However, Aleksandr Kokorin pulled a goal back for the Russian’s in the 77th minute, before Eli Dasa picked up his second yellow card of the match to see Tel Aviv reduced to ten men. Mauricio scored from the resultant free-kick to further reduce the deficit, before two minutes later, Giuliano fired in the loose ball after the home defence failed to clear Róbert Mak’s low cross.
Tel Aviv’s misery was complete in the first of six injury time minutes when Luka Djordjević’s sealed a dramatic win with a diving header.
Maccabi coach Shota Arveladze said: “As a coach I have never experienced anything like this and I hope I never do again.
“I’m not going to say nothing happened but we have to pass this. We have no time to think and we have a league match in a few days, it’s the past and it’s over. We can analyse this and get stronger see where we made the mistake and not do this again.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
