Maccabi Tel Aviv's relief at a thumping start to their European qualifying campaign has been tempered by grim medical news: Kristijan Belić, the Serbian midfielder known in the Hebrew press as Christian Blitz, is facing up to three months out with a fractured foot, Sport5 reports.
Belić had only just been passed fit after an earlier fitness scare and was sent on as a 64th-minute substitute in Maccabi's Europa League qualifying first leg away to Sheriff Tiraspol on July 23. He lasted just eight minutes before pulling up and signalling for the bench.
He was helped from the pitch in tears, with club staff visibly shaken on the touchline. Maccabi went on to win the match 5-0, but the result was overshadowed by the sight of yet another Belić injury.
Scans back in Israel have now confirmed the club's worst fears — a fracture in the foot, with Sport5's initial assessment putting his recovery window at up to three months, a spell that would carry him well past the Europa League qualifying rounds and deep into the domestic season.
It is a cruel continuation of a season that has repeatedly been derailed by fitness problems for the 25-year-old. Belić has already lost long stretches of playing time this year to a complete quadriceps tear and, more recently, a back complaint that limited his availability even before this latest blow.
The timing stings all the more given how highly the club rates him. Belić arrived on loan from AZ Alkmaar last August, and Maccabi moved in June to exercise their option and sign him permanently on a contract running to 2029, having seen him rack up 23 appearances and two assists in his debut campaign.
For now, Maccabi must plan around his absence for the Europa League return leg and beyond, a fresh test of squad depth just as continental and league commitments begin to overlap.
Sport5 describes the diagnosis as an initial estimate, with a fuller prognosis likely to follow once the club's medical staff complete their assessment of the fracture.
