Hapoel Tel Aviv will be the top club in Pot 4 as other results did not let them get into Pot 3. Move your mouse over the next sentence if you want results of other games. Auxerre advanced over Zenit St. Petersburg, but unfortunately Copenhagen advanced over Rosenborg on away goals and Tottenham won the second leg 4-0.
Here is Hapoel Tel Aviv's schedule: Tuesday September 14 at Benfica Wednesday September 29 vs. Lyon Wednesday October 20 at Schalke 04 Tuesday November 2 vs. Schalke 04 Wednesday November 24 vs. Benfica Tuesday December 7 at Lyon
What are the chances for even a 3rd place finish in this group? Lyon were the runner ups in France Schalke were the runner ups in Germany and Benfica were the Portuguese champions I think Hapoel got one of the hardest groups and a 3rd place finish would be a miracle.
Yeah I think this actually one of the harder groups they could've gotten. There's no massive club like Barca or Inter but then there's no club like Copenhagen or Rangers that are closer to Hapoel's level. It's very difficult for me to see any of the other teams finishing below Hapoel so 3rd would be a fantastic achievement.
STUPID HAPOEL ULTRAS... http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/sports/soccer-hapoel-avoids-europe-s-big-guns-1.310451 I want to hear what the Hapoel fans here have to say. Yes, it's unfortunate that you can't play at Bloomfield but it's not like Ramat Gan is so far away. To boycott your team when it's achieved history and has a chance to do something that no other Israeli team has ever done by getting out of the group is plain stupid!! I guess it doesn't matter whether there in Italy, Germany, France, or Israel Ultras are morons!
It is stupid that Bloomfield was good enough for the qualifiers but not the rest of the competition but the 'ultras' get nothing by boycotting the match (unless there's a 'stupid tossers of the week award' going about). If they're angry, fine. But they shouldn't let their team down.
Five people have predictions so far at https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1539210 and the average predicted score for this game is SL Benfica 2.8-0.4 Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Here is the stream http://show-sports.com/ So far Hapoel does not look confident. Benfica doesn't look great either.
Actually both teams are showing quite a bit of quality 15 minutes in - both dangerous. Benfica has skillful dribblers who can control the ball and bring it through the middle. Hapoel is creative.
Hapoel gave up a goal, but the ref screwed them by denying obvious penalty shots twice! Hapoel looks much better than Israel national team by the way!
enyeama from the spot!!! 2-1 down still with about 10 mins to go. That is Hapoel's first ever Champions League goal
Hapoel Tel Aviv played a scoreless draw hosting Schalke 04 today. It is the first point for an Israeli club in a Champions League Group Stage since 2004-2005. UEFA says Hapoel Tel Aviv had more shots on target, 6 to 5, and more possession, 53%. Edit: My previous post was about Matchday 2 and the previous paragraph of this post is about Matchday 4. Hapoel Tel Aviv lost 3-1 at Schalke 04 on Matchday 3 in between. Edit: Hapoel Tel Aviv cannot advance to the Round of 16. Bursaspor is the only one of the 16 clubs that have played four games so far that has no points and has done worse than Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Using my formula for converting Bet365 odds into probabilities, here are the probabilities for tomorrow's game hosting Benfica: Hapoel Tel Aviv win: 16.4% Draw: 26.3% Benfica win: 57.3%
The final was Hapoel Tel Aviv 3-0 Benfica. I wonder when the last time (if ever) an Israeli club won a Champions League Group Stage or later game by 3 or more goals. Benfica has been eliminated and Schalke 04 and Lyon will advance to the Round of 16. If Hapoel Tel Aviv wins at Lyon and Benfica doesn't win hosting Schalke 04, Hapoel Tel Aviv will reach the Europa League Round of 32. Otherwise Hapoel Tel Aviv will be done with UEFA competition this season after their next game. Although they are in last and will finish last if they don't win at Lyon, Hapoel Tel Aviv's -3 goal differential is better than 11 other Group Stage clubs including Benfica who is -4. Edit: http://en.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/matches/season=2011/live/index.html?matchday=5&day=2 says Benfica had more total shots (24 to 10), more shots on target (8 to 5), more corner kicks (21 to 2!), and 56% of the possession. Edit Again: http://en.uefa.com/uefachampionslea...match/report/index.html#hapoel+humble+benfica is an article about the game.
http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1340811.html is titled "Hapoel crush Benfica hopes."
Hapoel Tel Aviv scored the middle 2 goals in a 2-2 draw at Lyon to finish the group in last with 5 points. Hapoel Tel Aviv gave up the last goal of the game in the 88th minute. Schalke 04 won the group and won 2-1 at Benfica. Benfica finished third with 6 points. Israel finishes the 2010-2011 UEFA competitions with 4.625 coefficient points, which currently ranks 14th. That's significantly down from the 7.250 for Israel last season but still above Israel mean for the last five seasons which is 4.400.