Maccabi Tel Aviv completed their preparations for their league match tomorrow night at 9pm at Bloomfield Stadium against Bnei Sakhnin. Due to the winter re-seeding at Bloomfield, the squad held their final practice in Holon, with young international midfielder Dor Micha joining the training after missing Maccabi's Europa League tie in Frankfurt due to injury. Tickets for the Bnei Sakhnin match are still available. The home fans will also have gate 5 at their disposal while the visiting supporters will be seated at gate 4. Maccabi head coach Paulo Sousa had this to say about his Monday night opponents: "We'll be facing a very difficult side, well organised and aggressive, sometimes a bit too aggressive. Bnei Sakhnin are a team with a clear objective and it won't be easy for us to stop them". Referring to the transition from Europe back to the league he said: "It's our job to be ready for transitions like this. We're well aware of how Israeli clubs fare in the league after returning from Europe, the Europa League in particular, but we'll simply have to do whatever it takes to get those three points. The league is our main objective". With second-placed Hapoel Beer Sheva having drawn their match against Ashdod FC at the week-end, Sousa mentioned the opportunity to open up Maccabi's lead at the top of the Israeli Premier League table: "It's very important for us to increase our margin at the top but we're focused more on ourselves as a team and the match at hand. We want to succeed in every competition but our first priority is the league". As to the team's attacking options he added: "My players are capable of scoring goals, we just have to create as many chances as we possibly can and that won't be easy against Bnei Sakhnin, who no doubt will aim to crowd us out of the area. Still, as always, I hope the match will see us scoring goals".
Maccabi defender Yoav Ziv also had a word to say about the match: "(Bnei) Sakhnin are an excellent side that don't concede many goals. They have a very dangerous attacking line. We have to be prepared for every match and tailor our game just as we did against (Ironi) Ramat Hasharon and (Eintracht) Frankfurt". As for squad rotation he added: "We have 23 players on the squad who are all good enough to start or not play at all. From my point of view, every player wants to play in every match. But there's also the point of view of the head coach and the club. For every match there's a different approach. We players work for the club and are obliged to do everything for the good of the team and the club. I was here when the club were not doing as well as they are today, when we watched ourselves lose a grip on the top of the league table because of all kinds of internal dissatisfaction that became public knowledge. Now we're doing well so we don't have to deal with that kind of thing. That still doesn't alter the fact that everyone wants to play. That only shows what good shape we're in".
