Sabah coach Valdas Dambrauskas says he has been watching Hapoel Beer Sheva since the club's 2016-17 championship season and rates them highly, even as his team heads into Tuesday's Champions League qualifying playoff return leg in Baku a goal down. "I've followed Beer Sheva since 2017, they are a great team," the Lithuanian said, according to ONE.
The stakes could hardly be higher for either side. Neither Sabah nor Hapoel Beer Sheva has ever reached the league phase of the Champions League, and Tuesday's second leg at Sabah's Baku home will decide which of them gets there for the first time.
Beer Sheva head into the return leg with the advantage after winning the first meeting 2-1 at Turner Stadium on August 19. Veljko Simić fired Sabah in front inside six minutes, but Jacob East and Igor Zlatanović turned the tie around for the Israeli champions before half-time.
Dambrauskas told reporters he has visited Israel and specifically tracked Zlatanović and centre-back Djibril Diop in Beer Sheva's squad, and he praised the club's off-field management structure as a reason for its consistent success since that 2017 title run.
Despite the deficit, he sounded confident his side can turn the tie around at home. "We made the corrections and changes from what happened in the last match," he said, adding that Sabah "can qualify for the Champions League without needing extra time."
It would not be the first such comeback for his side this summer. Sabah trailed Danish club AGF 2-1 after the first leg of an earlier qualifying round before winning the return fixture 4-0 at home to advance.
Serbian midfielder Simić, who scored the opener in Beer Sheva, echoed his coach's respect for the opponent. "We are excited for the match, we meet a great team, but we are also a great team," he said.
Both clubs arrive at this tie having fallen short in the Conference League last season - Beer Sheva lost 0-1 on aggregate to AEK Athens, while Sabah were beaten 0-3 by Levski Sofia - making Tuesday's meeting a shot at redemption as much as history.
Kick-off in Baku is set for 19:45 local time, with Beer Sheva needing only to avoid a two-goal defeat to reach the Champions League league phase for the first time in the club's history.
