A big congrats to Maccabi Haifa, who last night qualified for the group stages of the European Champions League. A 3-0 home win over FC Salzburg meant a 5-1 aggregate result, and in the end, quite a comfortable ticket through to the luxurious stages of the elite European competition. Luxurious in so much that Maccabi Haifa stand to pull in some 12 million Euros over the next few weeks, which in Israeli footballing terms is a huge amount of money.
It’s only the second time an Israeli team has ever qualified for the group stages, the first being back in 2002, when, yes, you guessed it, Maccabi Haifa had its moment of glory (including a very glorious and fondly remembered victory over Manchester United). Hopefully this year Maccabi Haifa can do the unthinkable and get enough points to squeeze through to the second round…naahhh, that’s getting too cheeky!
I actually almost went to the game; my brother-in-law had tickets but not a spare one. A phone call that would have indicated he’d managed to buy an extra ticket from a tout never materialized, so I watched most of the game on TV.
Despite my dislike of local football (really, sometimes watching paint dry is more entertaining) this game caught my imagination and interest. I can’t say it was for all the right reasons; if I’m totally honest it’s probably down to my hoping that Arsenal get drawn in the same group as Maccabi Haifa and I get a chance to see my boys (in red) live and kicking in the Holy Land.
Come the draw for the groups, I might well get my wish…but in the meantime, once again, congrats Maccabi Haifa!