The Maccabi Tel Aviv squad were happy to return to league duties, especially after their 1-3 away victory last night at Kiryat Eliezer Stadium against Hapoel Haifa. At the end of the match, Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach Paulo Sousa directed his comments to his opponents, Hapoel Haifa: "They're a very good side. They demonstrated that their place third in the table is justified, especially when they play at home. This was a must-win match for us to get back on track. We put on the pressure and the lads fully deserved this win". As for winning without the injured in form midfielder Eran Zahavi he added: "For every one of our players, another can take his place. We're putting our full efforts into making the rotation work. Tonight we demonstrated that every player has his advantages and disadvantages, but above all, and after all, we're a team".
Sousa also directed his attention to Thursday night's Europa League tie away at APOEL Nicosia: "We'll be examining our opponents closely, they have a new head coach who has changed their style of play, we must make the right decisions to stay competitive and maintain our enthusiasm, our determination, our character. This is our focus for preparing for away matches in Europe. It's different than the league, which remains our main objective, but Europe is important not just for Maccabi but for Israeli football as a whole".
Defender Omri Ben Harush, who scored his first goal for Maccabi, said: "We're happy to get these three important and valuable points, especially after our last two less impressive performances. We were in control throughout the match and had a lot of chances. Now we're looking ahead to Thursday and we hope to get points there too".
Scorer of Maccabi's third goal, striker Tal Ben Haim, had this to say: "We played at a difficult venue against a tough side that didn't do us any favours, bottom line, what's most important is that we won. We have to focus on not conceding even when our opponents aren't creating many chances, but what's most important is that we recovered and won the game. Now it's behind us and we're focused on the game in Nicosia".
