‘A lot of our fans were killed’: Maccabi Haifa make painful return to the pitch | Maccabi Haifa

Football feels like an irrelevance at Maccabi Haifa’s hotel in Larnaca. The players, coaches and staff members milling around the lobby are meant to be thinking about facing Villarreal in the Europa League but this is not a normal situation. This is a community in shock, traumatised by Hamas murdering 1,400 Israelis and taking over 240 hostages into Gaza, and it is hard to focus. “Usually you think about the game, the tactics,” says Sean Goldberg, the Haifa defender. “But the mind is not here.”

Haifa should not be here. There has been no football in Israel since the horror of 7 October and trauma hangs over the country’s best side. Elad Ashkenazi, the team’s mental coach, wonders how to lift the squad’s morale and fear lingers in the air when Uri Harel, a fitness coach, talks about his 29-year-old son leaving his job as a lawyer to join up with the army.

The atmosphere is heavier still when Gil Ofek, who looks after the team’s schedule, says that his 71-year-old father survived an assault on his kibbutz only by hiding in a shelter for 36 hours. Dror Shimshon, another fitness coach, is ushered over to tell the story of his 22-year-old son somehow escaping the Nova music festival.

But while domestic football in Israel has paused, European competition goes on. Maccabi Tel Aviv, who are in the Europa Conference League, have an away game against FC Zorya Luhansk on Thursday, while Haifa have travelled to Cyprus to play a home game against Villarreal on neutral territory.

“It’s very tough to talk about football,” Haifa’s manager, Messay Dego, said at the AEK Arena on Wednesday night. Dego, an Ethiopian Jew, revealed that his grandmother had passed away in the morning. He took no questions after a brief speech. “A lot of our fans were killed,” Dego said. “But Israel is very strong and we will get through it.”

For Israelis, this is a time of unity and defiance. The Israeli Defence Force has pounded Gaza and many innocent Palestinians have been killed. The suffering on both sides is heartbreaking. But many Israelis see only an existential threat in Hamas. “Israel has the right to defend itself,” Rami Gershon, the Haifa defender says. “We didn’t start this war.”

Gershon talks about a family friend whose daughter is one of the 240 hostages in Gaza. One of Goldberg’s friends, a soldier, was killed on 7 October. “He was a hero,” Goldberg says. “I will think of my friend on the field tomorrow.”

Haifa, the Israeli champions, are not expecting much. They have not played since 5 October, have a point from their first two games in Group F and their foreign players are not with the squad. But the fact that Haifa, whose away game against Villarreal was postponed last month and rescheduled for 6 December, have barely trained before facing the Spaniards does not really matter. Everyone here has a link to 7 October.

“When my son is with the army I don’t sleep,” Harel says.

Ofek interjects. “This is our story,” he says. “His son is fighting now, maybe in Gaza, maybe in the north. My father was in the nightmare of his life.”

Sixty-five people were murdered in that kibbutz. The area housing around 45 youngsters was the scene of a slaughter. “They came especially for the kids,” Ofek adds. A member of staff holds a silver medallion soldiers wear to identify themselves. Inscribed in Hebrew is: “Our heart is in Gaza”. The message is free the hostages.

Gershon says: “All of us know people who have gone to fight. Ordinary people like you. Imagine you need to leave everything and defend your country. This is our reality.

“I know people who died. One ex-player, Leo Assoulin, who was at the music festival. Football is a community. Another player, Ben Binyamin, lost his leg. He and his fiancee went inside the shelter at the musical festival. The terrorists threw a grenade in the shelter. He and his fiancee are supposed to get married next month. Each of them lost their right leg.”

Gershon and Goldberg, an Israel international, know it will be hard against Villarreal. But Haifa, whose fans will not be present, want to make Israelis proud. They are seen as a symbol of inclusion. Haifa, a northern city, is diverse. The team is a mix of Jews, Christians, Arabs and Druze. Many Israeli Arabs support Haifa.

Goldberg says there is no tension between the Jewish and Muslim players in the squad. “We are like brothers,” he says. “It is not our first national crisis. We forget if they are Muslims or Jews. We are humans. We can live in peace.”

Gershon agrees, saying: “Sometimes it is uncomfortable but it goes quickly. This is a symbol for religious diversity.”

But it can be difficult for Arab players when there are attacks on Israel. Take the controversy surrounding Dia Saba, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and one of Haifa’s best players. The attacker was criticised by pundits and supporters when his wife posted on Instagram shortly after the attack by Hamas and said there are also children in Gaza. It created a furore and although Saba has apologised he has not travelled to Cyprus. His place in the side is set to be taken by Anan Khalaili, another Arab.

It is a sensitive topic and there is hope that Saba will be able to return to the squad soon. For now, though, the players about to face Villarreal hope to give the fans back home something to smile about. “In the last month we tried to make an effort in the community,” Gershon says. “We visited injured soldiers and heard horrible stories. We can sit for 24 hours and tell you horrible things.”

Gershon talks about the escapism of football. Goldberg couldn’t sleep after the attack. “I saw news 24-7,” he says. “But I say to myself: ‘What can I do to help?’ I cannot defend the country but I can make people happier – visiting kids from the kibbutz. On one side we don’t want to play. But it is our job to help people mentally. If we will do something to make people a little proud and make them forget for 90 minutes, it is good. We don’t only play for fans of Maccabi Haifa. We play for the country.”