Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach Paulo Sousa expressed his respect for FC Basel, his opponents in tomorrow night's home leg of the Europa League round of 32, but believes his team are up for the challenge: "They are the favourites but we feel that we can fight and get this qualification"
Following this morning's final practice, less than 24 hours before facing off against FC Basel at Bloomfield Stadium for the second time this season, Maccabi Tel Aviv held their pre-match press conference ahead of the first of two legs of the Europa League round of 32. Asked if playing the first leg at home will have an influence on the aggregate outcome of the encounter, Maccabi head coach Paulo Sousa responded: "Sometimes it does, other times not, but this time not. It doesn't change anything. Of course playing at home for us is always very positive, because of our fans. It's really good energy for our players, to perform for them and deliver lots of great emotions to them and hopefully tomorrow it will happen at the game, a great atmosphere as we expect, to support our players and deliver a good performance".
The last time the two clubs met at Bloomfield Stadium, it was in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League last August. It may be difficult for the two teams to put that last encounter behind them, but according to Sousa a number of things have changed at the two clubs since then: ""First of all for me it was practically the beginning of the season, integrating with my players, trying to pass on all my information, details, the principles of the game. Also for my players it was more demanding, more so than today. It's still demanding for them because every day I try to demand from them important tactical decisions, individually and collectively. Now I see my players as being much richer tactically, where they can understand the game better and make better decisions. I think it will be a completely different game because it's a different moment. Our opponents today had a winter break to help them refresh their condition. It also helped them acquire different types of principles of the game because in what we have analysed we see a different system, different principles of the game, different dynamics of the game".
"It will also be different for them because they will play the first game away, which usually places the greater expectations on their home game where they are really strong. To qualify, it's up to us to perform well, to concede as few goals as possible. We are always working to keep clean sheets, especially in these types of qualifications, and to provide goals. As everyone who follows us knows, in each game we provide a great number of opportunities and I hope tomorrow we will keep creating and this time score at every possible opportunity".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IemVACQSd1E
The Swiss champions have arrived in Israel missing a number of key members in their squad. Bulgarian defender Ivan Ivanov, who has ended his season through suspension and injury, defender Fabian Schar, also suspended, and the injured striker Marco Streller have not made the trip to Israel along with the rest of head coach Murat Yakin's squad. In addition, the charismatic Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah was sold to Chelsea in the January transfer window, but Sousa is confident these absences will not be a significant factor in tomorrow's match: "A club and a team like Basel are a squad rich in players who are looking for new solutions, better solutions. Regarding for example one of the players who is no longer with Basel, Salah, and you can find out the price, was sold for more than the value of our whole squad. We need to look for the realities. We dream, but we also always want to be realistic. But as I've said from the first day I arrived, and the players know it because this is our compromise: We must have lots of ambition but we need to be realistic. They are the favourites but we want to fight for this qualification because we feel that we can fight and get this qualification with ambition, with courage, lots of emotion, promoting positive football and getting to the maximum level of qualification".
"Of course, regarding the strategy for this qualification, we mustn't forget that we have two games to play and we want to be competitive and fight for qualification in both. I hope our preparation for this game will prove to have been good enough, allowing the players to perform and get a good result and to compete in the second game too".
Maccabi team captain Sheran Yeini also talked about his team's chances of beating FC Basel tomorrow night: "We want to go into the match fully prepared, in accordance with our game plan. We're familiar with them but we can't guarantee a victory tomorrow up front. But then again, neither can they. In football anything can happen but of course for this match they're the favourites".
"For our feeling we've already made that step up in Europe this year, but of course as soon as you reach that level you want to advance to the next one and your objectives change. Our goals from the start of the season were to compete for every title and to play well in Europe and to get as far as possible. We never dreamt of getting as far as we have but now we've got here we're taking this match very seriously. We're in for the full amount and plan to play our hardest to get a good result".
