After ten days in Leoben, Austria, Maccabi Tel Aviv ended their training camp and are now on their way back home. Three preseason matches, many training sessions and a lot of hard work was done over the last week and a half as the Yellow-and-Blue will now continue their preparations for the real thing, the UEFA Champions League second round qualifying matches.
Striker Barak Itzhaki discuses the ten day training camp as well as last night's match against Russian side FK Anzhi Makhachkala:
"This was the first time we played against a Russian club which tend to be very hard and physical. Even though they were just promoted back to the first division they are still a tough Russian side. The game was an opportunity to play against a physical side like we are or even more than us and we were able to learn a bit more about our abilities.
The first two matches were also against top clubs in Serbia and Hungary and gave us a good test to see how we stack up against those types of teams, and if we advance through Europe, we will play against even tougher opponents."
Itzhaki also talked about his personal feelings about the training camp: "On a personal level I had a good camp. I don't like to talk about myself but I felt very good. Last year I wasn't in camp because of my injury, so to be able to complete the training sessions and to be able to maintain the same standards as the rest of the club especially in my physical fitness makes me very happy. As a team we are a very content group that likes to play with each other and you can see that on the pitch. Now we will continue to get ready for the Champions League qualifying matches and I hope that we'll be able to achieve something that we have been waiting a long time for."
In two weeks, the return leg against Hibernians FC will take place at Bloomfield Stadium for the first home match of the year and Itzhaki is already excited to see the supporters: " It's always fun to play at Bloomfield with our great fans and we've missed them. It's now time to play in Europe and show the opposition what it's like to play at Bloomfield and I'm sure our supporters will push us to higher and higher levels."
