romain rocchi, who has gone from playing in france's ligue 2 to making his uefa champions league bow for hapoel tel-aviv fc, is looking forward to facing compatriots olympique lyonnais.
hapoel tel-aviv fc are breaking new ground this season, making their debut in the uefa champions league as only the third israeli club to participate in the competition, but one of their number is taking an even bigger leap into the unknown.
midfielder romain rocchi was turning out in the french second division for fc metz less than six months ago, yet made his uefa champions league bow in the 2-0 loss against sl benfica in lisbon on matchday 1.
after starting out at as cannes, rocchi joined paris saint-germain fc and won the french cup in 2004. two seasons years later, though, he suffered relegation with ac ajaccio and had been playing in ligue 2, first with the corsican team, then with metz, until hapoel signed him in the summer.
"for me it's great to be playing in this, the best competition in which you can play," rocchi, who appeared in all six of hapoel's qualifying and play-off games, told uefa.com. "i went from the second division to the champions league, so i have to work hard so i can adapt to this level."
rocchi, who turns 29 on 2 october, said eli gutman's side were aware of the challenge awaiting them, with wednesday's visitors olympique lyonnais and fc schalke 04 also in group b. "we're always learning in these high-level matches," he said. "for a lot of our players it's the first time they've played in the champions league."
the central player, who said he consulted former france midfielder and current israel coach luis fernandez before moving to hapoel, believes his club's underdog status could work in their favour. "we're a small team with nothing to lose, so everything's a bonus," said rocchi. "if we work hard, we can hope to take a few points away from home but the most important thing is to impose ourselves at home."
hapoel will have a chance to do that on matchday 2 in a direct confrontation with his countrymen. "i have played against lyon before but [the return fixture] will be a great opportunity to go back to france to see friends and family," rocchi said. "as well as that, they're one of the biggest teams in france so a match like this is always exciting to play in. playing in the champions league means playing with the best, so it's a great pleasure."
michel bastos' first-half double helped the visitors to a second successive group b win despite vincent enyeama's late penalty.
olympique lyonnais took control of group b as michel bastos's first-half double ensured hapoel tel-aviv fc's home uefa champions league debut ended in defeat despite vincent enyeama's late penalty.
last season's semi-finalists have endured a miserable start to the ligue 1 campaign, but once again reserved their best form for this competition. bastos was the match-winner against fc schalke 04 in the opening round of games and scored at either end of the first half, the opener a coolly converted penalty and the second an emphatic volley. lyon's seemingly unassailable lead was halved by home goalkeeper enyeama with 11 minutes left – hapoel's first group stage goal – but miralem pjanić made sure of the points with virtually the last kick of the game.
hapoel coach eli gutman drafted dani bondarv and romain rocchi into his starting lineup in a bid to introduce more defensive stability, yet within seven minutes that plan was being revised. hapoel captain walid badier – who had not featured since the matchday 1 defeat at sl benfica – felled jimmy briand and bastos made no mistake with the penalty.
the brazilian's kick sent enyeama the wrong way, but the nigerian goalkeeper was able to show his talents in the 20th minute, pushing away bafétimbi gomis' volley. his opposite number hugo lloris was extended by ben sahar's shot from distance, but the visitors' clinical edge was in evidence again nine minutes before half-time. yoann gourcuff's right-wing corner was half-cleared to the lurking bastos and his thunderous first-time shot from the edge of the area gave enyeama no chance, albeit with the help of a deflection off rocchi.
anthony réveillère might have made it three before half-time and claude puel's side continued to look the more threatening as the second period unfolded. gomis flicked a clever effort onto the top of the net and briand and substitute jérémy pied tested enyeama, who came racing out of his area to make a perfectly timed challenge on briand.
out of nowhere, hapoel were presented with a route back into the game on 79 minutes as dejan lovren hauled down douglas da silva and enyeama – who also scored in the play-off win against fc salzburg – held his nerve from the spot. lyon still looked relatively comfortable, and substitute pjanić slotted a clinching third deep into added time, leaving his team three points clear in the section ahead of the matchday 3 visit of benfica. hapoel must look for their first points at schalke.
yardimci hakemler: michael mullarkey (eng), darren cann (eng)
4. hakem: stuart attwell (eng)
çizgi hakemleri: andre marriner (eng), michael jones (eng)
h. tel-aviv: vincent enyeama (gk), douglas da silva, dani bondarv, etey shechter, walid badier (c), ben sahar (dk. 76 toto tamuz), gil vermouth, eran zahavi (dk. 59 yossi shivhon), dedi ben-dayan, avihay yadin, romain rocchi (dk. 59 shay abutbul)
yedekler: galil ben-shanan (gk), bevan fransman, omri kende, gal shish
teknik direktör: eli gutman (ısr)
lyon: hugo lloris (gk), pape diakhaté, dejan lovren, kim källström, jimmy briand, michel bastos (dk. 89 maxime gonalons), anthony réveillère, bafétimbi gomis (dk. 63 jérémy pied), aly cissokho, jérémy toulalan (c), yoann gourcuff (dk. 77 miralem pjanić)
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