The services, the spa, the machine: Maccabi Haifa's Champions League stories from 2009

The accidental replacement of Zagori, the bleeding and baldness of Keenan, the Ukrainian friend of Arbeitman and the joke about Elisha Levy: the heroes of the previous campaign of the Greens in the Champions League reveal the moments that have not been mentioned until today

Shlomo Weiss

14/09/2022

Wednesday, September 14, 2022, 3:00 p.m

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Summary: Maccabi Haifa - Section Nes Ziona 1:3 (Sport1)

Three days ago, former goalkeeper Amir Adri published a post recalling his days with Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League.

"In honor of the visit of Messi and Co.: a game at the amazing Allianz Arena, a free kick for Bayern, Müller biting Shay Maimon after his hard foul 'you know in champions its 9 meters'. Shay answers him in his characteristic way 'Go away... yes son.. .' in full Hebrew. The Champions is an experience for life," wrote Adri.

Indeed, many players have testified in public and in private rooms that in the end, after retirement they take with them mainly the experiences from the European factories, the stories and the inside jokes.

In honor of tonight's game against Paris Saint-Germain, and following Adri's story, we met four players and the coach of Maccabi Haifa in that campaign of the 2009/10 season, the Greens' last in the group stage of the Champions League, and asked them what memory is most etched in them since then.

Shlomi Arbeitman's hairdressing machine, Dekal Keinan's bizarre injury, Israel Zagori going to the bathroom at halftime, the spa of Elisha Levy and Giorgi Darsilia, and also the player who asked Arbeitman for a shirt.

The stories that have not been heard until today.

Lucky he needed the bathroom.

Israel Zagori (Photo: GettyImages, Massimo Cebrelli)

Israel Zagori - services for life

Israel Zagouri was only 19 years old when Maccabi Haifa was in the group stage of the Champions League.

The talented midfielder was marked as a promise, but in practice he did not get too many playing minutes in the league, and in Europe he did not see even a single minute of play - until the match against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

During the break, the bench players warmed up on the grass, then Zagori ran to the restroom in the locker room.

The young player did not believe that he had a chance to play on the main stage and passed by coach Elisha Levy, who also did not pay attention to Zagori, but then, just before he opened the bathroom door, Levy apparently received an epiphany, turned to the midfielder and shouted at him: "Zagori, Come back to warm up. I'm bringing you up to play."

The excited Zagori doesn't even remember to this day if he went into the bathroom as he planned, but he is convinced to this day that if he hadn't gone down to the locker room area, Levi wouldn't have thought of the possibility of incorporating him.

"There's no doubt that it was an amazing moment," Zagori recalls, "I hadn't played at all until then and suddenly because he caught me on the way to the bathroom, I went up to play.

I even gave a big ball to a nesting palm tree that missed by a few meters, but there's nothing to be done.

This is football."

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Keenan's fart broke the tension.

Nir Davidovich (Photo: Barney Ardov)

Nir Davidovich - high voltage

The former goalkeeper of Maccabi Haifa is remembered to this day as one of the biggest symbols of the club.

The first campaign in the Champions League, in 2002/03, he lost due to injury, but in the second Davidovic played and even recorded great performances.

When Davidovich tries to remember what is the most symbolic moment for him, he thinks of his defense mate - Dekel Keenan.

The brakeman, according to all the players who played in those days in the green uniform, liked to perform tension surges at every opportunity.

In the final practice before the game at Bordeaux, Davidovic and Keenan quickly walked down the path to the grass, then Keenan saw a pole that he could hang himself on.

The brake went up without thinking twice, but he did not notice that there was a sharp piece of iron above him: his head hit the iron and the blood dripped from his head.

"I remember it really well, he really opened his mind. The truth is that we all stood on the sidelines and just burst out laughing," recalls Davidovich.

"It's true," Keenan admits while laughing, "to this day I have a scar on my head as a reminder of this."

The spa has become a joke.

Elisha Levy with Giorgi Darsilia (photo: Maccabi Haifa, Reuven Cohen)

Elisha Levy - a calm joke

Just like today, even then the players and people of Maccabi Haifa tried to relieve the great tension before the games.

Since Israeli football is not used to being in these positions, the feeling of playing against the lions of Europe often causes butterflies.

Coach Elisha Levy also felt the tension, and decided that if his team had already reached the Champions League, it was time to enjoy it.

In the first away game, Levy decided to take action, he talked to his assistant Giorgi Darsilia and the two agreed that after lunch and the final meeting on the day of the game, they would go to the spa together to relax.

The two put the plans into action, but at the exit all the sponsors of the club were present who saw them leaving just hours before a fateful match.

"It became a kind of joke, because then in every game in the Champions League after lunch on the day of the game, Giorgi and I went to the spa and the sponsors turned it into an inside joke between us," Levy recalled.

"The truth is that the League of Bakers is a lot of tension, but also a lot of fun and a great feeling."

When Dekal Kenan tried to threaten with baldness (photo: Maccabi Haifa)

Nest palm - threatening baldness

A few hours before the match against Bayern Munich, the Maccabi Haifa players went up to their hotel rooms to rest.

Kenan shared a room with striker Shlomi Arbeitman and the two prepared to rest.

Among other things, the two players talked about the fact that you should look at Bayern's big stars with the whites of your eyes and not show fear.

Just as Keenan said this, Arbeitman had an idea: "Go bald, you'll look menacing," he told his friend, who did decide to accept the offer.

Arbeitman took out the hair clipper, told Keenan and it went to the grass with an uncharacteristic baldness that amazed all the members of the group.

"To this day, people are sure that I lost the intervention," says Keenan, "but we said that the black people and the hair on the legs are not scary, so maybe baldness will do it. The truth is that Shlomi tried to tell me but it didn't do anything, and that's also where I discovered for the first time that I was starting to go bald." .

Didn't get the shirt he wanted.

Arbeitman watches the Bayern players celebrate (Photo: Barney Ardov)

Shlomi Arbeitman - the Ukrainian friend

If you ask other players who was the "star" of those days in the dressing room, everyone will answer Shlomi Arbeitman, who was very popular.

However, the striker himself has difficulty recalling a special story.

Just before we say goodbye without Arbeitman being able to "fish" a story, he comes to his senses: "Oh, you know what? There's something."

Arbeitman recalled that while all the players in green were fighting over which shirt they would take from the Bayern players at the end of the game in Israel, he actually got bumped before he could ask another player.

Thomas Müller was the player with whom everyone wanted to change shirts, but Arbeitman, on his way down to the dressing rooms and try his luck, ran into the Ukrainian midfielder Anatoly Tymoshuk.

The striker intended to continue walking, but then Tymoshuk took off his shirt, turned to him and asked him for his.

In the game against Juventus, Arbeitman actually managed to be the one to ask whoever he wanted for the shirt, and that's how he got Amaury's.

"There were many experiences in the Champions League", he concluded, "at the end these are the moments that are remembered".

• sport

• Israeli soccer

• Super League

Tags

• Maccabi Haifa

• Dekel Keinan

• Nir Davidovich

• Shlomi Arbeitman

• Elisha Levy