A group of veteran MTA fans provided the funding for residents of Israel's troubled southern areas to leave the shelters and fly to Cyprus for Maccabi's Europa League tie
Later tonight Maccabi Tel Aviv will take to the pitch at Larnaca's Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium for the critical second leg of their Europa League play-off tie against Greek side Asteras Tripoli. Among the Maccabi supporters watching the match first-hand will be 45 special guests, residents of Israel's southern border area, who at the initiative of a number of veteran MTA fans were gifted with the opportunity to return to a sense of normality after 50 days of conflict by flying with the team to Cyprus and watching Maccabi Tel Aviv attempt to turn around a two-goal deficit from the first leg in Greece and reach the competition's group stage. During the flight they wished the team the best of luck with tonight's crucial match and gave a warm welcome to Maccabi's new head coach Pako Ayestaran, who along with MTA sports director Jordi Cruyff enjoyed the opportunity to have a picture taken with this very special group of fellow travellers.
One of those travellers, 30 year-old Yakir Cohen from kibbutz Nir Oz, described how he and other Maccabi fans from the conflict zone felt about being with the club in Cyprus: "It's been a very difficult time, the rockets have been raining down on our kibbutz's non-stop and we haven't had a chance to really follow what's been going on with the club. We saw the matches on the telly of course and kept up to date somehow, but to get to the matches, especially when they're being played in Cyprus, that was really tough. This is a really wonderful initiative and we're all very grateful to the people who offered us this gift. Most of us are season ticket holders, so we enjoy going to all the matches and this is really great. For me in particular, because I was supposed to play futsal matches for ASA Beer Sheva but because of the fighting they were all called off". Others who came along to Cyprus were from the kibbutzes Yuval, Magen, Nir Yitzhak, Shar Hanegev and also from the town of Sderot.
