After two encounters with Beitar Jerusalem at Haifa's "Sammy Ofer" Stadium, Sunday at 8.15pm Maccabi will face their rivals from the nation's capital at Bloomfield for the first time this season
Against the background of preparations for Maccabi's Sunday night top-six home playoff encounter with Beitar Jerusalem, head coach Pako Ayestaran spoke to the official Maccabi Tel Aviv website crew and touched on the fact that Maccabi had not won in the sides' two previous league engagements. Were there any special preparations for this third attempt to put one in the win column? "Not at all. When they asked me previously about this type of runs I always said I don't care about them. The only thing I care about is to improve my team, be sure that we are ready to perform against any team and the result will be as a consequence". And will facing Beitar for the first time this season on home turf make that task any easier? "It will help, because the players feel really comfortable playing at Bloomfield".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGLJJ6rz2JE
The coach was also asked if the run-in to the league title was much as he had imagined when he first arrived at the club last summer: "I imagined even better because I am always so ambitious that it's not enough, the performances that we had. I am looking forward to seeing the team even play better, especially our game with the ball. But I'm especially pleased about the commitment, with the effort, everything, and especially because the players have arrived with everything they want to be counted".
In recent encounters, winger Tal Ben Chaim has come in off the bench in the second half rather than playing the full ninety minutes. Was this part of an overall game strategy? "I never think that a player could be the key one to come from the bench, I always think about the first eleven. I think regarding what I see in the training sessions, regarding the last game and regarding the opposition we are going to play against".
After Sunday's home encounter against Beitar, Maccabi will head out for four consecutive contests on the road, including the State Cup semi-final against Maccabi Ahi Nazareth at the end of the month. Did that require any special preparations? "We never prepare anything differently, playing away, playing at home. Our aim always is the same and it's going to continue being the same, playing at home or playing away. Always there is a risk of being relaxed thinking that everything is done, but we know this is not the case. We know that the gap of eight could be in one week five and if you have two defeats in a row you are already at two points for the next contender. In this case it's something we don't think about, especially because we've got targets above and beyond the league table. In this case, I think this is the target at the moment".
Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club look forward to the continued support of all our supporters, including at Sunday night's game against Beitar Jerusalem. The club in general, and the players in particular, are proud of Maccabi's record of condemning any forms of violence or racism, both in and outside the stadium. We feel confident that our most treasured fans unequivocally share those sentiments and will act in accordance with them.
