Eddie Gottlieb's story could easily turn into a movie.
The boy from the periphery, who was sent to prison for 40 days in a military prison, went through a difficult path until he fulfilled a dream and arrived at Hapoel Tel Aviv - a glorious club in Israeli football, but things got out of hand and the fans marked him a villain. Hope for the derby on Saturday against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
What Gottlieb went through in his first term in the red uniform are things that most players in the world do not go through in an entire career.
In 2017, the team disbanded, and the player started arbitration against the club with the intention of leaving, which was not well received by the audience.
The incident that shattered everything took place in the concluding training session before the relegation game against Hapoel Raanana.
Hapoel Tel Aviv fans broke into training and confronted some of the players. One of the fans tried to physically attack Gottlieb, who in response gave him a punch. At that moment a large part of Hapoel fans simply deleted the player.
In the National League Gottlieb dried up in the stands for many months, training separately from his teammates due to the conflict with the management, until Kobi Refuah arrived and got him back on track.
But from the moment he returned to the field, his life became a nightmare.
Fans, mostly from the Ultras organization, cursed at him and whistled contemptuously at every touch of his ball, confronted him in a few training sessions, spat at him, spray-painted a graffiti on him and put up huge signs at games with the caption "Gottlieb out".
Gottlieb in the derby in the last cup final.
Hapoel will finally defeat the city rival ?, Photo: Ami Shumen
The player is forced to park his luxury vehicle right in front of the front door of the training complex, so that the security cameras can document if there is an attempt to corrupt him, and sometimes he is forced to leave the compound with police escort.
In the end, there was no escape and he was sold to a group from Russia.
"Any player who went through what Eddie went through was just a course," says a Hapoel source, "to hear every game your audience curses you, whistles at you, spits at you, attacks you in training, where was such a thing? Eddie kept quiet, but "Sometimes he also reacted. No one will be silent when they try to hurt you physically. Only thanks to his character and composure did he manage to cope with the situation. He got a stigma of being problematic, but he is the best child in the world."
Hapoel players say that Gottlieb is really the opposite of the stigma attached to him.
He is very closed and introverted in the locker room - comes to training, trains, does what needs to be done and goes home.
There are things that everyone knows should not be laughed at with him as about the family, which for him is a supreme value.
Media interviews have nothing to speak about at all.
Hapoel Tel Aviv fans. For a long time, Gottlieb had a difficult life, Photo: Alan Shiber
"The audience sees that Eddie is fighting"
Last year Gottlieb returned to Hapoel, the contempt whistles and curses continued from some of the crowd, and this season even a fan burst onto the field in the game against Maccabi Petah Tikva and attacked him.
Moreover, in the team's recent victories Gottlieb has even gone to celebrate with the fans, something he would not have done for years.
Hapoel players believe that the protest has faded because "the crowd sees that in every game Eddie fights the most on the field."
How much does Gottlieb affect the game of the Reds?
Note the following figure: The brake, who suffered several injuries this season, recorded 14 league games, in which Hapoel Tel Aviv scored 30 points, compared to only 3 points in the seven games in which he did not play due to injury or dismissal. In other words, Hapoel with Gottlieb or without Gottlieb - It's just two different groups.
Gottlieb's good ability also meant that last October he was called up to the Israeli national team for the first time, but has not yet made his debut in the blue-and-white uniform.
So what happened that this year Gottlieb broke out?
"In the previous term Gottlieb has always been in the shadow of Uriel Degani," explains a senior Hapoel player, "now he is our senior brake, everything is on his shoulders and he takes a lot more responsibility. Eddie is in the best season of his career."
Hapoel says that Gottlieb makes the players next to him better and especially Sianda Kolo.
The proof of this they bring from the games in which his voice played alongside Klil Traora, and the combination between them was unsuccessful, to say the least.
But there is another factor in Gottlieb's success and he is called Kobe Medicine.
"There are coach players, but Eddie is Kobe's player," Hapoel says, "he is one of Kobe's leaders on the pitch."
Eddie Gottlieb's miraculous story could take an even bigger turn in the plot, if the brake helps Hapoel Tel Aviv achieve a derby victory on Saturday for the first time in about eight years, or if you want after 2,849 days.
If that does happen, the villain will become a superhero.
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