Sabah suffered a 1-2 defeat to Israel's Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League playoff round.

Operativ Media reports that the Israeli club's goalkeeper, Ofir Marciano, who made outstanding saves in the second half, gave an interview to the Sport 5 channel.

He praised his team's strong performance.

"It is an incredible feeling, but this still feels like the first half. We made a great comeback today, and this gives immense confidence to our team. We faced a great opponent, but we managed to turn the game to our advantage. It is a wonderful feeling."

He added: "What really matters is that despite the difficulties today, we turned the game in our favor and found a way to do it, which is not easy. When you reach such moments, you have to find the strength and momentum, and I am glad we did."

Marciano expressed full faith in his squad.

"We all delivered an incredible performance today, and that is what has defined us since the start of the season. We have a very special team; I have been here for four years, and we have gone through a wonderful journey together. We truly deserve the achievements we have made, and we deserve success in the future as well. I hope we will celebrate there next week because we truly deserve it. We are working very hard under tough conditions, flying every three days. We do everything we can to bring joy to our fans and to represent our club and Israel during these times. I can only be proud of this team; this team is bigger than any single player, regardless of who is here or not, this team is something special."

The Israeli goalkeeper also shared head coach Ran Kozuch's message during the halftime break:

"He told us to stick to our principles, keep the ball moving, and not panic. The game was a bit messy at first and not working in our favor, but we managed to get it under control. He explained several tactical points that could help us. I am glad we executed them and everything worked out for us. I even thought we could have scored another goal. We will have to go there, get the job done, and everything will be fine."