Hapoel Be'er Sheva Faces Red Star Belgrade With Amador and Rotman in Champions League Clash

Hapoel Be'er Sheva aims to advance to the UEFA Champions League playoff stage for the third time in its history after securing a 1-0 away victory over Red Star Belgrade in Hungary, thanks to a goal by Zahy Ahmed. The Israeli champions seek to replicate Maccabi Haifa's surprise elimination of the Serbian champions in Belgrade four years ago.

Coach Ran Kojuch made one forced change to the lineup, starting Pedro Amador at left back in place of the suspended Matan Baltaksa. Itay Rotman continued alongside Miguel Vitor in central defense, while the attacking front featured Ahmed, Javon East, and Igor Zlatanovic. Mohammed Abu Fani started for Red Star, with veteran and highest-paid player Marko Arnautovic leading their attack.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva will face the winner of the Aarhus (Denmark) versus Sabah (Azerbaijan) tie in the playoff round. If they lose, they will drop to the Europa League playoff, where they will meet Czech side Viktoria Plzen. Future home matches will be played at Rapid Bucharest's stadium in Romania.

The starting lineups were as follows: Red Star Belgrade - Mateus, Saul Young-Woo, Derek Lokasen, Strahinja Arakovic, Nair Tiknizian, Rade Krunic, Mohammed Abu Fani, Vasilije Kostov, Osman Bukari, Mirko Ivanic, Marko Arnautovic. Hapoel Be'er Sheva - Ofir Marciano, Guy Mizrahi, Miguel Vitor, Itay Rotman, Pedro Amador, Niv Yehoshua, Lucas Ventura, Eliel Peretz, Javon East, Zahy Ahmed, Igor Zlatanovic.