In the end the tradition was not broken.
As in its two previous appearances in the Champions League, Maccabi Haifa also started the current campaign with an away loss.
In 2002 it happened at Old Trafford, when Manchester United defeated Yitzhak Shum's greens 2:5, despite an exciting goal by Yaniv Ketan.
In 2009, the opening was at the Allianz Arena, where Bayern Munich easily defeated Elisha Levy's Maccabi Haifa 0:3.
At least this time the loss was by two goals and not three, but a right goal was not scored.
And the champion's fans are waiting to see who will be the team's next scorer in the group stage of the Champions League, since that little Yaniv Ketan scored against Olympiakos in Athens 20 years ago.
Barak Becher knew exactly who his team was going to play against and although he tried to surprise with high pressure at the beginning of the game, this tactic disrupted Benfica's plans for only a few minutes.
Enzo Fernandez, Florentino and especially the fantastic Rafa Silva quickly took over the center of the pitch.
Ofri Arad and Barak Becher.
From now on the rotations will talk, photo: Reuters
Maccabi Haifa went into the half satisfied, because the result was zero, but the level differences were already clear.
Later, and especially after Ali Muhammad's injury, the gaps only grew.
Because Ali Muhammad has no real replacement at Maccabi Haifa.
With all due respect to Mohamed Abu Fani, he is not able to do what Ali does when it comes to ball extraction and movement without the ball.
When Barak Bakr brought on Omar Atzili at the beginning of the second half instead of Dean David, he gambled.
Becher believed that Azili, with his brilliance, would be able to add the sophistication to the attack that would yield a surprising goal.
Atzili is more talented than David and more creative - but he hardly helps in defense and ball recovery, and he is too slow for those levels.
Dylan in Tubinsica in the air of Libson.
He was extremely excited, photo: Reuters
Benfica took advantage of Maccabi Haifa's tactical slackness, scored two quick goals, and ended the game.
The Israeli champion realized the hard way how difficult life in the Champions League is.
Even on a not great day for Benfica, when their top scorer Gonzalo Ramos was replaced at half time due to poor ability, they won quite easily.
The dry figures tell the story: Benfica kicked the goal 16 times, Maccabi Haifa only 7 times.
Benfika kicked the frame 4 times, Maccabi Haifa only twice.
Before the game, there were those who claimed that Benfica had a problem in defense, because the 18-year-old stopper Antonio Silva was inexperienced.
Well, Silva, whose release clause is 100 million euros, proved that Roger Schmidt has someone to trust.
Abu Fani in the noisy court in Lisbon, photo: Reuters
On the other hand, Gal Alberman and his team must be complimented for landing in the team at very short notice the pair of brakes Dylan Betobinsika and Abdolei Sek, who looked excellent.
It seems that Maccabi Haifa fans have already forgotten that only a week ago they were in a panic due to the departure of Bogdan Palanich.
Barak Becher will now have to be very precise in the rotations he makes, so as not to fall apart in the next two games in the Champions League, on Saturday the team is expecting the league game against Ness Ziona, in which almost exclusively players who did not play yesterday in Lisbon will appear.
Because four days later Mbappe, Neymar and Messi come to Sami Ofer.
End of Podgorano.
It was feared that the season was over, photo: AP
And four days before the away game against Juventus, Maccabi Haifa has a match against Maccabi Tel Aviv, and no one knows which of the players in the squad will be at Becher's disposal. And how do you even rotate between these two games?
Benfika celebrates on the head of Maccabi Haifa, photo: AP
So yes, Barak Becher dreamed of qualifying for the Champions League for ten years, and now that it has happened, he understands that this is a task he has yet to encounter.
But he has no choice and will have to find solutions and maneuver amidst the load of games, flights and injuries.
It won't be easy.
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