Sabah – Hapoel Beer Sheva Preview – Can Sabah complete the great escape?
Sabah have never been this far in Europe before, and now they need a result from behind to go further still. This Sabah vs Hapoel Beer Sheva betting tips preview starts with how the first leg swung: Veljko Simić put Sabah ahead inside six minutes, only for Javon East to level before half-time and Igor Zlatanović to snatch a late winner for the Israeli champions. Hapoel take a slender lead into the return, but a one-goal cushion against a side that has already shown it can hurt them is not much to hold onto.
Kick-off is at 16:45 GMT on 25 August, with Sabah back on home soil and the tie still very much alive. There is no obvious favourite in this one. Sabah let an early lead slip in the first leg, conceding either side of half-time, and their back line looks exposed. But they also scored first against a team that had barely been troubled all summer. A first-ever place in the Champions League league phase is the reward for whoever gets this right.
Sabah – Hapoel Beer Sheva Betting Tips
If you’re weighing up this tie, none of our three picks back it to stay tight and cagey. This one looks built for goals at both ends.
Betting Tip: Sabah to win
Sabah have already shown in this competition that a first-leg deficit does not scare them. They erased a two-goal aggregate hole against Aarhus by winning the home leg by four, and doing that with the tie on the line suits how this squad plays. Backing the hosts to finish the job fits the pattern.
Betting Tip: Over 2.5 goals
Sabah cannot afford to sit in and defend a one-goal gap, they have to attack from the first whistle, and Hapoel are without a first-choice centre-back for this leg. Both of those point the same way. Check the latest match odds before kick-off, because a game with this much attacking intent from the home side rarely stays low-scoring.
Betting Tip: Both teams to score
Every goal in the first leg came from a team pushing to hurt the other, and that will not change with a first-ever league phase place up for grabs. Sabah scored away from home once already in this tie, and Hapoel still have enough going forward to trouble a defence that has already conceded twice in this contest. Both nets should move again.
How both sides arrived at this point
Getting to a play-off round at all is new territory for Sabah, and they got here the hard way. A first-leg defeat away to Aarhus looked like it might end their run early, only for Sabah to flip the tie completely at home, a result our Sabah vs AGF Aarhus betting tips preview covered in detail before kick-off. That template, concede first then overwhelm the opponent at home, is exactly what Sabah need to repeat now.
Hapoel Beer Sheva’s path here was calmer on paper. The Israeli champions saw off Red Star Belgrade without conceding at home and won comfortably away too, a tie we broke down in our preview of that Red Star fixture. That run has thinned since. Defender Pedro Amador is out for months with an Achilles injury and will miss this second leg entirely, and there are also reports of a heart-related health concern involving forward Dan Biton hanging over the squad. Neither is the kind of news that helps a side trying to protect a lead on the road.
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