Maccabi Tel Aviv prepare for their third Europa League group F encounter in a match to be broadcast on Israeli sports channel Sport 1 tomorrow night at 10pm. Their opponent, Bundesliga competitors Eintracht Frankfurt, today held their final practice before the match, preceded by a press conference during which head coach Armin Veh had this to say: "It's a difficult group, we're playing against a team that have played well in the Europa League, they're at the top of their domestic table in Israel and they have a lot of players on the national team. We must be cautious because we're playing against a club that is capable of advancing to the next stage (in the competition). I'll be happy to win the match and so far I'm concerned a one-goal advantage will do the trick".
Veh, who has led his Frankfurt side to two 3-0 victories against France's Bordeaux and Cyprus' Apoel Nicosia, was asked if he thought Maccabi Tel Aviv were a stronger side than the Cypriots: "That depends entirely on what kind of display Maccabi put on during the match. After the draw we said to ourselves there is no absolute favourite in the group, perhaps Bordeaux because of their vast European experience. But after playing so well in their deserved win in France, well, Maccabi are a strong side and dangerous going forward. The group is still wide open and we've made a good start but there's still a ways to go. We have to win all our home matches, including the one tomorrow night. If we can do that we'll have made significant progress towards getting to the next stage".
40,000 tickets, including those to some 1,000 Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, have already been sold for the match at Frankfurt's Commerzbank Arena and there's a palpable sense of excitement in the city: "We're all very excited at the club too and so are our fans because European matches are not something that come along every day. We have a lot of players and supporters who've never even experienced an international match in Europe. There's no question that this is an exceptionally exciting moment because qualifying for Europe is not something you do every season. I've been waiting for this kind of excitement for a long time with big crowds in the stadium because that's the reward for a whole year of hard work. It's not just that we enjoy the support of our fans, it also proves to them the potential of the club they support".
Veh is well acquainted with Maccabi's statistics so far this season and added: "Maccabi Tel Aviv have conceded just one goal so far in the group and have kept a clean sheet in their league. There's always a great desire to score in every match, we want to win and without scoring that's impossible. Maccabi Tel Aviv are a good team, but we'll do whatever it takes to show we're even better".
One of the goalscorers in Frankfurt's 3-0 win against APOEL, the 30 year-old Croatian striker Srdan Lakic on loan from fellow Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, said: "This is a good opportunity to appear on the European stage and show the world what we're worth. I hope we'll give it everything we have and get as far in the competition as we possibly can. How far? We'll just have to wait and see. We feel the pressure to succeed in the league as well as in Europe. It would be a mistake to say the Europa League is a bonus. We're taking this European campaign very seriously but we'll have to play well in the league too in order to win every week. With all due respect to Maccabi Tel Aviv and to Europe, that's what's beautiful about football. The fact that eight, nine thousand fans are coming to see us play in Bordeaux, that's something beautiful but not something you see every day".
