Hapoel Beer Sheva completed one of the biggest results in the club's European history on Tuesday night, beating Red Star Belgrade 2-0 away at the Rajko Mitić Stadium to seal a 3-0 aggregate victory in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.
The goals came in the second half in Belgrade: Igor Zlatanović put the visitors ahead just past the hour mark before Javon East added a second late on to end any doubt against a Red Star side that had arrived unbeaten and fresh off a 9-0 rout in the previous qualifying round.
It capped a tie Beer Sheva had already tilted in their favour at Turner Stadium a week earlier, when Zahi Ahmed's 38th-minute strike secured a 1-0 first-leg lead — one they defended for more than half an hour with ten men after defender Matan Baltaxa was shown a second yellow card in the 58th minute. Baltaxa served a one-match ban and missed the return leg.
Manager Ran Kozuk's side went to Serbia without their suspended defender and were expected by most Serbian media to be picked apart by Dejan Stanković's Red Star. Instead, the Israeli champions controlled long stretches of the game and could have won by more, according to Kozuk himself afterwards.
"These are immense feelings of pride — the players did it in style," Kozuk said, quoted by Walla Sport and Sport1 after the final whistle. "It could have ended by more than 2-0, but I'm not being greedy."
ONE's headline captured the mood in Israel bluntly, framing the result as Kozuk giving Stanković — the Red Star coach and former Inter Milan and Serbia captain — a footballing lesson on his own turf.
The win sends Beer Sheva into the Champions League playoff round, the last hurdle before the newly expanded league phase, where they will face Sabah FK of Azerbaijan over two legs.
Even before a ball is kicked against Sabah, the achievement already guarantees Beer Sheva at least a place in a European league phase this season — either the Champions League itself or, should they fall in the playoff, a drop into the Europa League — along with a UEFA payment reported by Israeli outlets at close to €9 million.
Should they get past Sabah, Beer Sheva would join Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv as the latest Israeli side to reach the Champions League league phase proper, with Israeli media describing the club as "180 minutes" from that milestone.
For a squad rebuilt under Kozuk after a difficult recent stretch domestically, beating a Red Star team many had installed as favourites — home and away — represents the clearest signal yet that the project in the Negev is back on track.
