Barak Itzhaki: “We Believe that we plan do it”

Veteran striker Barak Itzhaki spoke about the game against Viktoria Plzen in the third round of Champions League qualifying, how they will prepare for next match and of sucre the upcoming derby.

 It's great to score, but unfortunately you lost the game:

 Of course I'm always happy to score but I would have been happier to score another goal. There's nothing you can do. It was not a great result but we know that we can do it and we are a better team. For most of the game we were the better team on the pitch.

 This wasn't a much better team than Maccabi:

Yes and especially at home and we should have taken advantage of that fact. At home we had to win and now it will be a bit harder.

You gave up some easy goals:

There's nothing you can do. It happened. We will learn from our mistakes and come prepared even more for the next match. It will be a very hard game but we believe that we can do it.

How are things going as a team with the new coach?

We are still learning the methodology of the new coach and we've only been together for a month. Things take time. We needed to win this game and take an advantage into the return leg but it didn't happen so things are now going to be a bit more challenging.

When you went down 0:2 it seems like Plzen took their foot off of the gas?

They definitely didn't do that as they wanted to kill the clock and control the ball. We needed to get the ball back and as we did we began going coast to coast to try and score some goals.

Do you think that you, Gili Vermouth and Avi Rikan should have started the game?

It's easy to say that now and look back. Of course I wanted to start the game but it's the coach's decision as to who starts and we will have to prove that we deserve to be in the starting lineup.

How do you feel when management headed off to Switzerland to try and bring a new striker?

It really doesn't bother me and Monas is worth every penny. If he comes great, but it's not in our hands.

What do you think about the upcoming derby?

Derbies are always important both to the supporters and for the club. We have a very important game next week as well and we will have to concentrate on all of the matches.

I don't think we need any motivation to play a derby. Everyone knows what the derby is against Hapoel Tel Aviv. It's a very important game to show that we are working together as a team and it's coming at a good time. It could give us a lot of confidence before heading off to Plzen for the return leg.

New recruit Avi Rikan spoke to the press following Maccabi Tel Aviv's 1:2 loss to Viktoria Plzen in the first-leg of the UEFA Champions League third round qualifying matches.

How did you see the match unfolding?

We didn't want to give up those two quick goals but that's what happened. When I came into the match in the second half I wanted to help out as much as could. Barak Itzhaki and Gili Vermouth also tried their hardest to bring us back into the game.

It was good that we got a goal to keep our Champions League chances alive but we are going to have to play much better next match in order to advance.

You gave up two away goals and you'll have to play in their home Stadium. What will you do?

Next match will be totally different. We will have to take the good things from tonight's game and apply them to next week's game in Plzen.

It seems that Maccabi Tel Aviv always gives up goals and next week you'll have to score and try not to let any in:

We gave up goals and we didn't want to. I agree we will have to work harder in our preparation for the next game in order to score and not to give up any goals.

You have the derby coming up Saturday night:

Yes, we want to make our supporters happy and the match will be different as it's the Toto Cup, but we are playing to win.