The backing given by Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters to the club this past week has been deeply felt by every member of the team. Nikola Mitrovic: "Our fans were absolutely incredible'
Last night's 1-0 triumph over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the municipal derby has rounded off an exceptionally successful week for Maccabi Tel Aviv, with three victories in two separate competitions. Today the squad will get a well-deserved rest and return to training tomorrow in the run-up to the opening encounter of the second round of thirteen Israeli Premier League matches on Saturday against Hapoel Acre. At the end of the first round, Maccabi Tel Aviv find themselves atop of the league table and what better way to finish off the first round than with a victory over your historic municipal rival. "I'm happy, and I'm happy our fans are happy, and I'm happy we're winning and that's the most important thing of all", said midfielder and goalscorer Eran Zahavi after the derby. "We really have to take our hats off to our fans, they all came out on Thursday (for the match against Bordeaux) and stood in the rain and this win belongs to them. This one in particular. We can only hope to carry on this way. The derby isn't the most important aspect of the season but it's really important to our fans and to the other players and the staff. But you don't win the championship with derbies, and the title, that's what we're after".
Zahavi continued: "I don't think we played our best football tonight and we weren't in our customary good form but let's not forget this was our third match in a week. Because of the stormy weather we weren't able to train very well, but I reckon that's the sign of a really great club, winning even when you're not at your best. I mean, it may have looked as if Hapoel had control of the game at certain stages, but at the end of the day Maccabi created the real chances of the match so we really did deserve the win".
Zahavi feels little inclination to be ruffled by the criticism levelled at him for celebrating his goal in front of the supporters of his former club: "Every goal I score in the derby becomes the subject of an inquest, if I had run off from the visitors end all the way to the home fans, they'd be saying the same thing. That's the direction we were playing so I scored the goal there. All I did was celebrate my goal with the guys I'm meant to be celebrating with, end of story. I'm not looking for compliments from anyone, I'm looking to do my job on the pitch, I'm a professional and when I score a goal it's my obligation to celebrate, especially when there are so many fans out there who have come to support me, so why shouldn't I celebrate".
For Serbian midfielder Nikola Mitrovic, who joined the club in the summer and played in his first derby in Israel last night, this seemed to be a particularly special experience: "The most important thing tonight was the three points, we didn't play that well, but in a game like this what's most important is the result and that's exactly what we got. It's my first derby in Israel, I've already played in three different countries, three different derbies, but I heard from people that this was a special one and I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was perfect, especially our fans who are absolutely amazing. I'd really like to thank them because they came out in really bad weather to support us against Bordeaux and that is simply fantastic".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U_WxesAG-o&feature=c4-overview&list=UU-oWQqnf8B8a_TsmVi0mTUg
"From the moment I arrived at the club they explained to me that the mentality at Maccabi is a winner's mentality", Mitrovic continued. "We play every match to win and up till now we've got results both in Europe and in the domestic league. That's what's most important for us. I've only been here four months and believe me it's not that easy to get the fans to call you by name but I'm glad they like me and the feeling is mutual, very much so. So far we're concerned what's most important is ourselves. We have to play every match to win and not get hung up on statistics or on our opponents".
Team defender Eytan Tibi summed up the match: "I'm glad we won and now we move on. We're not interested in "Who's going to stop us", our concern is ourselves. We simply have to get out on the pitch and play good football, win every match and that's it. Maybe Hapoel were better on the night, it wasn't one of our greatest matches. But even when you're not playing that well you have to know how to win. There will always be games like that when you have to defend with ten men and still get a result. We've had a rough week, and our fans have been absolutely brilliant throughout, with the freezing weather we've had all this week. Hats off to them and I'm happy we got them three wins. I think every player wanted to get out there and prove his worth so that at the end of the day we'd come out winners. Maybe we weren't at our best, it happens, maybe it's the pressure, just don't forget we'd already played two difficult matches this past week".
