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Striker Barak Badash, who scored a brace against Hapoel Ra'anana last night in the "Toto" Cup, is already looking ahead to Thursday: "Now we have a new goal"

With last night's 2-0 win over Hapoel Ra'anana in the "Toto" (League) Cup, Maccabi Tel Aviv held a dress rehearsal for their Thursday night encounter in the first leg of the Europa League play-offs against Greek side Asteras Tripoli F.C. Tomorrow head coach Oscar Garcia's squad will enjoy a well-deserved day off and fly off to Athens the following day. "We are the only team in Europe now, but that's what we have and that's what we're doing right now", Garcia responded after the match to reporters' questions as to whether he wouldn't prefer team practice to League Cup matches. Also lack of play at Maccabi's home venue was clearly a matter the coach had on his mind: "For me it's so hard not to play at Bloomfield. I need to wait till the tenth game but the situation is the situation, we can't do anything. But hopefully it will come soon but later than what we wanted". Asked what he thought would be a good result in Thursday's Europa League tie, Garcia said: "I will not give you a result because maybe I'll give you one result and we won't come through with this result. We want to have a good game and we'll try to score because it's very important to score in the first leg".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSyPMo9oCO8&feature=youtu.be

Striker Barak Badash, whose brace set the score in the game against Ra'anana, will be serving out a one-match European ban on Thursday due to the red card he received in the Champions League match against Slovenian champions Maribor. Understandably though he was elated about tonight's result: "As you've no doubt noticed we've been waiting quite a while to play in front of our own fans and tonight you could already feel it at the kick-off. So far I'm concerned scoring in front of the home crowd is the greatest thing there is so I'm really happy. I'm devastated I can't play on Thursday, I'm really sorry about being sent off and for that mistake I'm doing penance now. But I hope we'll have plenty more matches in Europe so I can get my chance as well. We're working hard, the match against Asteras will be tough, they're a good side, but by Thursday we'll be ready for them. We've put Maribor behind us and our new goal is the group stage of the Europa League".

Young international goalkeeper Barak Levy, who marked his first start of the 2014/15 season last night with a clean sheet, also took the opportunity to share some feelings after the match: "Maccabi Tel Aviv is my home and I hope to spend my whole career playing here. For me it's the fulfillment of a dream. My time as first-choice keeper will come, we have a coach and he makes the decisions. I'm training hard, it's no coincidence I pledged my future to the club, I know I can play at this club and it'll happen when it happens. I'm working hard, getting a lot of experience and waiting for my moment. We have a generation of very good goalkeepers here in Israel, young guys coming up and seeing how the new generation are getting started in the top flight, good lads all of them. The older generation like Dudu Awat have left a high standard for us but I'm hopeful the young guys can live up to it".