The Champions League play-offs can feature nervous moments for both sides.
No one wants to make a single mistake that might prevent their club from securing a ticket to the ultimate European club competition.
On Wednesday Maccabi Haifa hosted Young Boys for their first leg play-off match.
The home advantage of Maccabi Haifa was known.
Their last qualifying round home defeat was in 2004, when they missed out on the Champions League group stage with a shocking loss against Rosenborg.
In front of 30,000 fans, they would struggle to disappoint.
Young Boys were looking to keep the match as tight as possible, and maybe look to decide the clash at home next week.
Last season, Young Boys played in the Europa Conference League qualifiers, but were knocked out after a penalty shoot-out against Anderlecht.
That desire to not make a mistake meant neither Maccabi Haifa or Young Boys scored, with the game ending in a 0-0 draw.
Young Boys manager, Raphaël Wicky, felt that his side had completed their task for the first leg.
"I am very happy with our mentality, we performed well in such a difficult away game," he said after the match.
"We managed to stop Maccabi Haifa, we know their attacking skills. We could have got a better result if we were more focused."
On the other hand, Messay Dego was a bit disappointed with his Maccabi Haifa side.
“We had a great first half, we played with a lot of pressure on them,"
"We knew that we were going to face a strong opponent, so we didn't want to put the game on stakes, that could make us lose the second leg."
That game is next week, and will see one team make it through to the Champions League group stage.
Edited by Alex Smith
🇮🇱Maccabi Haifa failed to beat 🇨🇭Young Boys at Sammy Ofer stadium, and the #UCL playoff match ended in a goalless draw. The Israeli champion will now have to win in Switzerland in order to advance to the group stage pic.twitter.com/QeUoQ6a5kU
— BabaGol (@BabaGol_) August 23, 2023
