Maccabi Tel Aviv's opponent in tomorrow night's Europa League round of 32 contest, Swiss champions FC Basel, have undergone a considerable number of changes since the two sides met last summer in the Champions League qualifiers. You can read all about them in the special match programme
Feelings were mixed at Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club after last night's goalless draw at home against FC Basel in the first leg of the Europa League knockout round of 32. On the one hand there was disappointment that the team failed to score, on the other hand the fact that the team kept a clean sheet means that the dream of advancing to the next stage of the competition is definitely still alive. "The chances are the same," said Maccabi head coach Paulo Sousa. "This competition has two games. We finished the first one of ninety minutes and we have another one. We saw our opponents change their system, showing us a lot of respect. They played with a line of five where you can control all the space in the central corridor and also in the lateral corridors and also with a good number of holding midfielders, creating difficulties. But we played most of the game with patience, which is why we played the whole match with ambition and courage and positive football. We created chances, knowing there would be fewer than in some games in our domestic league, but we had chances to score. Tonight we didn't but we kept a clean sheet which gives us the capacity and the possibility to perform one historic night in Basel and dream of our qualification because I'm sure we will have opportunities to score in Basel and hopefully this time we can manage to qualify".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ruEJVMxOBk&list=UU-oWQqnf8B8a_TsmVi0mTUg&feature=c4-overview
Sousa continued: "Of course in these qualifications you need to deal with the results. Imagine they had a one goal lead after tonight, it's not enough for them and this is the next step we want to see Maccabi Tel Aviv take. In fact we've already done it because, as we did at Bordeaux, this was the first time at international level that a team like Maccabi or an Israeli team won away and we can do it again. This is the step we are looking for for our players, for our team, to have this mentality, with all due respect for our opponents. We want to present that ambition, that courage, that positive football. We are growing in those areas and I'm sure it's something we are going to see in Basel, in our players' behaviour as protagonists in the away game".
Team defender Carlos Garcia described his feelings after the match: "It's not the best result we had wanted, but I think what we did tonight was to get a good result, I'm happy with what the team did. It's not enough but I don't think it's a bad result. Of course it's better to win, but the other side didn't score and that's good for us. We have a chance, it's fifty-fifty. Again, it's only one game. They will have to win the next game to advance but a draw with goals will be good for us, we'll advance to the next stage. I think they gave us a lot of respect because they came out with a five-man defence. They don't ever play like this. We also know it's not one game of 90 minutes but two games and 180 minutes and it's important when you play the first game at home to avoid making any big mistakes at the beginning".
Garcia, who will miss the return leg in Basel after receiving his third yellow card, continued: "It was a mistake for me, I must learn to be cleverer in these situations because it's not just this one action but my footballing in general. I'm very sad because I cannot help the team but I have trust in all my teammates and I'm sure we can get a very good result in Basel".
Striker Barak Itzhaki also spoke mostly about his feelings of a lost opportunity, but remained optimistic: "Yes there is a bit of that, we missed a chance, but the contest is still completely open. We still have ninety very difficult minutes to play in Basel, but we've demonstrated that we're just as good a side as they are so what we have to do is go to Switzerland and do our jobs there. They came here with the idea of not losing and in the end they succeeded. They played defensively and that is encouraging for us because a team of that stature came to Bloomfield Stadium and showed us respect and that gives us a good feeling. We still have another match to go and we'll try to go there in absolutely top form, even better than tonight".
"They managed to surprise us at first but as you know our head coach can change his system in a matter of seconds. As soon as we saw they were playing with a back line of three we adjusted ourselves and made a good job of it. I don't think they managed one shot on target the whole night and we had a number of chances, especially in the second half. Of course, in Basel it will be a different story altogether, it'll be an open game because they'll want to score, but so will we. This first leg gives us hope, it was a good match and at the end, in particular, we dominated. But still, it's only half the work".
Team defender Omri Ben Harush summed up the match from his point of view: "We came into the match fully primed. For their part, Basel took the measure of us and knew what they were playing for. At the end of the day it's a pity we didn't score but that's how it goes. We'll go to Switzerland with even more motivation and we can still surprise them. Of course we're disappointed with tonight's result, we deserved to score here and win. The pace in Europe is completely different, we know that. We were as prepared as we could possibly be and we played well. We ran the whole distance, just too bad we didn't score. We're always out there to win so we'll go to Switzerland looking for a good result that will get us through".
