Posted on

The Maccabi Tel Aviv squad held a morning practice at Kiryat Shalom before heading off to the airport for their flight to Switzerland

The Maccabi Tel Aviv squad finished off their preparations in Israel ahead of the second leg of their Europa League round of 32 contest against Swiss champions FC Basel at St. Jakob-Park on Thursday at 8pm with a morning practice at Kiryat Shalom training ground. The squad left straight from the practice to Ben Gurion airport to catch their flight to Zurich, from where they are expected to continue their journey by coach to Basel. Defender Carlos Garcia, whose third yellow card at the first leg here in Israel disqualified him from playing in Switzerland, was also among the Maccabi players taking his seat in the aeroplane. After Sunday's match against Hapoel Haifa he said: "It's the most important game so far this season, and it's obligatory for all of us to be there. If I can help by staying there with my partners I will do it for sure, and of course I'll stay in Basel".

Tomorrow the squad will hold a final practice at St. Jakob-Park as well as a press conference ahead of the match, which will be refereed by a Croatian team lead by Ivan Bebek. Ongoing coverage of the team's sojourn in Switzerland can be found at the official Maccabi Tel Aviv website and at the club's official Facebook  and Google+ pages.