Elyaniv Barda is not about to fix something that isn't broken. With Hapoel Tel Aviv 90 minutes from the biggest European night in the club's recent history, the coach indicated he sees little reason to reshuffle the side that held Atalanta scoreless in Bergamo.
"We still think they're favorites to win the tournament," Barda said of the Italian club, before adding the line that gave the story its headline: "We'll try our best to succeed... Atalanta will be much better than the first game, and we'll also need to extract more from ourselves."
The first leg of this Conference League playoff round tie ended goalless in Bergamo on August 20, with goalkeeper Assaf Tzur repelling a string of late Atalanta chances, including back-to-back efforts from Ederson in stoppage time, to keep the tie alive.
The return leg kicks off Thursday at 21:00 Israel time (20:00 local), with Sport1 broadcasting. As with the rest of Hapoel's European campaign this season, the game will not be played in Tel Aviv: the club has adopted the DVTK Stadium in Miskolc, Hungary as its home ground for UEFA fixtures because of the security situation.
The stakes are as high as they get for an Israeli club outside a national-team fixture. Victory, by any scoreline, would send Hapoel Tel Aviv into the Conference League's league phase for the first time — a result that would eclipse most of what the club has achieved in Europe in the professional era.
Barda said his players must produce "a more perfect match" than the one in Bergamo, where Hapoel largely held its defensive shape but created little of note at the other end. He does not expect the visitors to be as generous with space a second time.
On personnel, the coach gave an update rather than a promise: Emmanuel Boateng and Stav Turiel, both carrying knocks from recent weeks, would train with the squad, with a final call on their availability left until close to kickoff. Boateng was withdrawn injured during the first leg, while Turiel has been managing a hamstring issue.
Barring a fitness setback to one of that pair, Barda's message was that the group who started in Bergamo has earned the right to start again in Hungary.
Hapoel's support is treating the trip as an occasion in its own right, with several thousand fans expected to make the journey to Miskolc for a match the club has billed as a genuine shot at history.
