Idan Nachmias played every minute of Ludogorets' 2-0 win away to Dunav Ruse in the Bulgarian league on Monday, a routine result that kept the champions top of the table but mattered for a much bigger reason: it was the Israel international's last outing before the biggest 90 minutes of his club season.
Ludogorets go into Thursday's Conference League return leg against Hapoel Tel Aviv needing to overturn a 2-0 deficit from last week's first leg, and Nachmias's manager clearly wanted his defensive lynchpin fully match-sharp rather than rested for it.
According to ONE, Bernard Tekpetey put Ludogorets ahead in the 14th minute and Rwan Cruz doubled the lead in the 47th, goals that stretched the Bulgarian side's unbeaten domestic run and left bottom club Dunav Ruse still searching for their first points of the campaign.
The result offered Ludogorets a measure of reassurance after a bruising European night three days earlier. Hapoel Tel Aviv won the first leg of their UEFA Conference League second qualifying round tie 2-0, with Omri Altman converting a Stav Turiel pass just before half-time and Chico adding a second after the break.
That match, like other recent European fixtures involving Israeli clubs, was not played on home soil in Israel but at a neutral venue in Miskolc, Hungary — a continuing arrangement UEFA has required for Israeli teams' home ties amid the ongoing security situation.
It leaves Ludogorets with a genuine mountain to climb at their own Huvepharma Arena in Razgrad on Thursday, needing at least a two-goal margin simply to force extra time against a Hapoel Tel Aviv side that travelled to Hungary and did exactly the job it needed to.
For Nachmias, the tie carries an unusual personal dimension: an Israel international lining up for a foreign club against an Israeli team desperate to eliminate him. The 29-year-old centre-back, born in the Golan Heights kibbutz of Ein Zivan, moved to Ludogorets in 2025 after spells at Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ironi Kiryat Shmona, and has been a full Israel international since his 2020 debut.
His manager's decision to play him the full 90 against Dunav Ruse, rather than rotate ahead of a season-defining European night, suggests Ludogorets have no intention of treating Thursday's second leg as a lost cause — whatever the size of the deficit they must overturn.
