Barak Bachar has admitted that Hapoel Beer Sheva need a miracle to reach the group phase of the Champions League.
Scott Brown’s 85th minute strike on Wednesday restored Celtic’s three goal advantage giving Brendan Rodgers side a commanding lead to take to Israel.
Celtic looked a cut above the Israeli champions during most of the first leg but two quick goals from the visitors early in the second half changed the complexion of the match.
If Hapoel can repeat that at any point on Tuesday the tie will be wide open but Bachar admits that his side are long odds against reaching the group phase.
“We need a miracle to progress but miracles sometimes happen,” the Hapoel coach said about Tuesday’s match after yesterday’s 2-1 league win over Hapoel Ra’anana. “ Even if we don’t progress, we want to win this match.
“The most important thing was to win (against Ra’anan) and we have an interesting challenge ahead of us on Tuesday.
“It is difficult to return to league action after a Champions League game. We must be realistic regarding our chances against Celtic.
After his side’s first leg win Rodgers said: “It is a brilliant result for us. You would obviously prefer 3-0 but 5-2 really shows the level that the team played at in a European game where there is everything riding on it.
“We were excellent in the first half, we pressed them aggressively, created opportunities, scored three and maybe could have had more.
“We started the second half well, I was pleased, then we had a spell when we defended very poorly for 10-12 minutes and conceded two poor goals.”
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