NOBODY in Israel is shouting from the flat roof tops that Hapoel Be’er Sheva can pull off what would be one of the most memorable results in the country’s football history against Celtic.
But then you won’t find anyone completely ruling out a comeback, all the way from 5-2 down, by this relatively unheralded club which would take them, and not their Scottish opponents, into the Champions League group stages.
And hope can be a strong motivational tool in this game.
Barak Bakhar, the Hapoel manager, does not come across as a hugely emotional man, his face wears the same expressionless expression more or less all the time, but there was something in the way he spoke which gave off the impression is he quietly confident his players can at the very least cause Celtic’s manager, players and most certainly the supporters some moments of terror in the second leg.
“In football there are games when the impossible can happen,” said Bakhar. "We have to remember these games. It’s a Champions League match and we have to produce a good performance and not think about the result.
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“Of course the fans will have a very significant part in the match. The crowd is very important - we saw it last week at Celtic Park. They can play a huge part in helping us produce an amazing performance.
“It is a fact that it is 5-2, we will try to do our best because the score is very tough at the moment, but we will try to represent the club as well as possible.”
In some ways, there is no pressure on Hapoel. Nobody expected them to win the league last year and certainly the Champions League was felt to be far beyond this inexperienced side.
And so if they do go out to Celtic then what’s the big deal? This is not the way Celtic will be looking at things. Sometimes the team with nothing to lose wins.
There is something else. Hapoel did score twice in Glasgow and caused a few problems in a 20 minute period. The second goal was scored by midfielder and captain Maor Melikson who suggested that stranger things have happened.
“Even at a very tough stadium against a good quality team we showed some good football," he said. "We don’t want to think about the odds against us, we want to go out and win.We believe in ourselves. We have confidence but the score is the score and we are realistic.
“Last week is in the past, we are going in with confidence and we will do our best. We don’t like to lose. First of all we want to win. If the result is going good then I am sure the fans will go crazy and really push us.
“We were not overconfident last week. You need to be at Celtic Park to see how big the club is. We made too many mistakes and paid for it.”
Bakhar was full of praise for the way Celtic played in the first game even if he did see flaws which his team could make the most of at the Turner Stadium.
“We expected a team with high quality,” said the manager. “They were improving and developing every week in Europe and in the league. We weren’t surprised by the performance.
“We saw some good things from Celtic and a few less good things. But we are looking at our team and do our better things even better.”
And as for the pesky question about flags, a question that did not go down well during the press conference, Bakhar said: “I am a football coach, not a politician.” This was the safe answer.
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