At a press conference ahead of their second Europa League match at Bordeaux, Maccabi Tel Aviv captain Sheran Yeini spoke of the differences with their previous tie against APOEL: "Bordeaux are different"
Tonight the Maccabi Tel Aviv squad completed their final preparations with a practice at the Stade Chaban-Delmas Stadium ahead of their encounter tomorrow against FC Girondins de Bordeaux, to be broadcast at 10.05pm on the Israeli sports channel Sport 1. Prior to the practice, Maccabi head coach Paulo Sousa and team captain Sheran Yeini held a customary pre-match press conference, where the former said: "We're aware that Bordeaux's results have been somewhat disappointing of late, but at each match they've created enough chances to win. If we can dominate midfield we can turn the match to our advantage, we'll try to create chances and score more than they do. Clearly in a match at this level we'll have to find a balance in order to be competitive, and we'll have to convert every chance we create because that's the only way we're going to win".
Sousa also referred to Bordeaux head coach Francis Gillot's remark that Maccabi Tel Aviv are the favourites: "My esteemed colleague just wishes to pass the pressure on to us, but obviously a club with such a rich European tradition like Bordeaux, far richer than Maccabi's, will be under far greater pressure to win. It's also a home tie for them, but for us this is a competition we wanted to participate in, to try to fulfill our aspirations, to be courageous and collect as many points as possible and see where we stand at the end. Having said that, don't forget that our first priority is the league".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCtiavLdbVY
Sousa was also questioned about Maccabi's league season so far: "We're doing just fine, we've started the league successfully, we also had a good match against APOEL. We didn't create that many chances, but the chances we did create were enough to win, including the penalty at the end. We're trying to control proceedings on the pitch, one of the foundations of our game, and to play positive football. In the end of course it also depends on our opponents, but we want to be who we are, and win every match. We didn't succeed against APOEL but tomorrow we'll have another go. That's the Maccabi mentality, and that's the way I see the game, I want to provide my team with positive football and get results, and when I say results I always mean victory".
Finally, Sousa was asked what he feared most from his rival: "It's not so much a question of fear as one of respect, Bordeaux is a strong side with fine players who make all the difference for the club, but with all due respect we want to be ourselves and demonstrate our principles of play. If we can dominate the game we can deal with even the strongest of our rival's players. We try to study them in depth, their method of play, we want to be prepared for every circumstance. But in the end we're facing the whole team together".
Maccabi Tel Aviv team captain Sheran Yeini was also asked to respond to the Bordeaux head coach's remark that Maccabi Tel Aviv are the favourites: "At this level it's hard to be a favourite, we know that Bordeaux are a very good side and we respect the fact that they're playing at this level. They also play in a very good league, but we're not thinking about who's the favourite, we're just thinking about what we have to do to win the match. This is only our second time in the Europa League, so we're hoping to improve each time. This is a completely different team than two years ago, with an entirely different character, so I'm hopeful we can get as many points as possible away from home".
