Claudio Ranieri's men, trailing 2-0 from the first leg of this second round tie, wasted chance after chance before Milan Osterc, profiting from William Gallas' shocking mistake, broke away in the 35th minute to give the Israelis a priceless away goal.

Having stumbled out of the same tournament against Swiss amateurs St Gallen a year ago - in Ranieri's first match in charge - The Blues knew they had to score four times if they were to avoid another embarrassing  exit.

Although substitute Gianfranco Zola pulled one back with a deflected strike just after the hour, they never looked like getting the goals they needed - a late onslaught and 27 attempts on goal notwithstanding.

Mario Stanic had set the pattern for the evening after just four minutes, heading down and over from just six yards.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink then stumbled during a penalty box scramble, before the Dutch striker drove a free-kick into the wall.

Two minutes later, Emmanuel Petit snatched at a volley from 20 yards and fired wide, before the keeper, Shavit Elimelech, had to be alert to foil Hasselbaink again from the edge of the area.

The Israelis finally threatened after 19 minutes when Hapoel skipper Shimon Gershon - who scored a penalty in the first leg - made a great break out of defence, but the final ball let him down.

Graeme Le Saux was the next to try his luck from 25 yards but his shot flew narrowly over the bar.

Disaster struck for Chelsea ten minutes before the break when they conceded a sloppy goal - with Gallas culpirt in chief.

The Frenchman, midway inside his own half, saw his forward pass easily intercepted by Pishont, who immediately fed Milan Osterc in space outside the Chelsea box.

The Slovenian international made no mistake as he ran on and coolly slotted the ball past Mark Bosnich.

Chelsea continue to press but they could not break down the resolute Hapoel defence, or beat the defiant Elimelech, the man of the match, in goal.

Forsell saw is headed effort crash back off the upright, before Zola finally pulled one back so that Chelsea's proud record of having lost only once - to Lazio - in their last 37 home European ties was preserved.

The little Italian almost repeated the trick after 73 minutes, but this time his shot skimmed the top of the bar.

Serghey Cleschenko had a chance to seal things for the visitors after 82 minutes, but scooped his shot wide with Bosnich stranded.

With five minutes remaining, Zola was denied by another fine double save from close range and then Hasselbaink was also foiled by the heroic goalkeeper.

Att: 28,433
Ref: Laurent Duhamel (France).