Champions MTA head coach Paulo Sousa on Eran Zahavi and the season as a whole: "Everybody helped one another to arrive at the top"
Last night, Maccabi Tel Aviv rounded off a hugely successful season with their second consecutive Israeli Premier League title and several other record achievements. Head Coach Paulo Sousa took time out to summarise the season, including of course midfielder Eran Zahavi's recording-breaking goalscoring tally: "Yes, a great achievement – for the team helping Eran to achieve the target he deserves. I said before the last game, (Hapoel Tel Aviv's Omar) Damari is having a fantastic season but we always take special care of our own players and Eran is someone really special and he deserved that. Today we arrived to the top of the mountain. It was a difficult road but lots of pride. Nobody was left out along the way. Everybody helped one another, pushed one another to arrive at the top, and together we achieved the top and we achieved all the targets for this season. This is something that makes me proud. This is Maccabi. This is what we want to see. The team above everybody, the club above everybody, working that way to achieve target after target. When you achieve one, you look for another one. This is what we did this season and we expect to do it next season".
Sousa was asked to compare Maccabi to other teams he knows, in Portugal and in the English Championship: "It's very difficult to compare. Culturally it's a different kind of football, budgets, intensities of the games, it's difficult. I already spoke about Israeli football, the Israeli player, who in my opinion needs to improve. I am impressed in certain situations, with certain coaches, some of the things my colleagues are proposing are really good by further analysis. But the ones who impressed me most were my friends (Maccabi fans), from day one buying out the season tickets, staying close to support us at away games. This is what impressed me more because it's the soul of a club and they make sure to support us to achieve the top of the mountain. They were pushing from the back to the top. To them, many thanks".
Sousa also responded to rumours that this was his last game for Maccabi: "You're going to see me the tenth of June and tomorrow I will be here, after tomorrow I will be here. I don't like to go for speculations all the time because I have a close relationship, professionally and personally, with the management, with the players. If I have decisions that are different than Maccabi they are the first ones to know".
Eran Zahavi, who bagged a hat-trick in last night's match against Bnei Sakhnin and established a new season goalscoring record for a midfielder , said after the match: "For the club this was a fantastic season and I'm happy that it was reflected in my numbers as well. But the most important thing is the team and the whole season we really played as a unit. I thank all my teammates for their support. It was even beginning to embarrass me and at some point all I really wanted to do was to repay them. This title, it belongs to them and to them alone. I can promise you that I'll try to do everything I can to maintain my form. This season my numbers were really high, but there are still things I want to improve. And if I finish next season with twenty goals it won't be a catastrophe. What's important is that the team come out on top and I want to take this opportunity to thank the fans and the players. We had a fantastic season".
Throughout the entire match, midfielder Mahran Radi received audible backing from the Maccabi fans and afterwards was visibly moved by the show of support: "I love the Maccabi fans and I love this club. What they did for me today was very moving. I understood that all kinds of things were said about me and that was the reaction of the fans. I've always learnt to see the cup as being half full but for me that support was the cup running over. That's the greatness of these fans, who supported me throughout the match like I'd scored a hat-trick myself. Now I'd like to thank them, and my teammates, from the bottom of my heart. A show of support like that is not something you can take for granted and I only hope we'll carry on with the same unity. It just shows how unified and strong the club have become in the last two years and it's also down to the owners and the management who are working hard to bring to the club players who excel in club spirit rather than ego and I'm happy to that everyone can see the results".
Radi continued: "This was a learning year for me. I learned a lot of new things and got into a lot of situations that made me stronger. Everybody's looking at my numbers and saying they're down and that I played less, but I have to tell you the statistics show I'm one of the midfielders with the most time on the pitch. True I played more in a holding position but this is what the team required and if you understand that you'll also appreciate what I've been doing all season. I don't go in for comparing this season and last season because every season stands on its own right. Bottom line, we had a brilliant season and nobody's happier about that than me".
Maccabi's young striker Gael Margulies, who came on as a substitute in the second half of the match and drew the foul that lead to Eran Zahav's final goal on the night, said: "It was a complicated season for us, not straightforward at all. We played in two competitions, in the league and in Europe. In Europe we made good work of it, playing against very difficult opponents. We won the league title and had a fantastic season. For me personally it was difficult to get into the squad with players of such quality like (striker) Barak Itzhaki and Eran Zahavi, who both had brilliant seasons. But you learn a lot just going out there every day and training with them. At first it was hard but in the end it all worked out".
