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After last night's draw against Beitar Jerusalem, Carlos Garcia spoke to the club's official website: "We weren't so smart in keeping the ball"

After last night's draw against Beitar Jerusalem at Haifa's Sammy Ofer Stadium, Maccabi's Spanish centre half Carlos Garcia, who played all 90 minutes, had this to say about the result: "The feelings are very bad. We played a good game, we had the three points in our hands and we lost these two points that are so important for us. A home game, in the last second, it's very difficult for us but we have to keep working and think about next Saturday".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sNAEzR2T3E&list=UU-oWQqnf8B8a_TsmVi0mTUg

We asked Carlos if perhaps the crowded fixture schedule of the past weeks contributed to the team's losing focus: "No, it wasn't because of this. Beitar had their hunger to score and we wanted to keep the score but I think we weren't so smart in keeping the ball. We only needed to go to score a second goal if we were in the right situation to do it. Sometimes you only have to only keep the ball. We have to try to keep the ball out, let the time pass. You saw, all the teams lose a lot of time against us and when we have to do it we have to learn to do it also".

Asked how it felt to play in such a large new stadium like Sammy Ofer, the defender replied: "I felt very good that the supporters, our fans, came all the way to Haifa in the middle of the week. We appreciate that they came to support us. It was an incredible atmosphere, a Maccabi atmosphere. The stadium is amazing. I think it's a very good stadium for Israel. The point was that the pitch is not so good. I think they have to try to work on this because it's difficult to play good football on this pitch. For other things it was amazing to have this atmosphere and the support of our fans".

And what did he expect of Maccabi's forthcoming tie on Saturday (5.15pm) at the "Moshava" Stadium against Hapoel Petach Tikva? "It will be a tough game. We know them from the 'Toto' Cup but it will be a totally different game against them. But we can only think, with all due respect, how we'll try to beat them and get the three points".