Maccabi Tel Aviv landed in Israel this morning after last night's 2:0 victory over Viktoria Plzen and advanced to the Champions League playoffs. The players found it hard to relax after celebrating the win
The morning after Maccabi advanced to the Champions League playoff round, Barak Itzhaki was still celebrating well after the final whistle was blown at the Doosan Arena.
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"I don't want to start humming the Champions League tune yet. The supporters that came to see us play on Plzen believed that we could do it. We heard them more than the 11,000 Plzen fans. We're thrilled that we made them happy and also our fans around the globe."
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Itzhaki also discussed the game plan that was executed to perfection, to keep the match scoreless until late in the game: "We worked on this game plan and wanted to make sure we got to the 70th minute 0:0 because we knew that during the last 20 minutes of the match they would tire.
"Now we have to wait to see who we get in the draw. I have a feeling we'll get Celtic, but regardless whoever we get we will be prepared for them. I'm so excited with all of the celebrations. I hope that the flight attendants and the stewardesses didn't get to upset at us because the flight was a very happy one.
Gili Vermouth added: "This was a great birthday present. We accomplished something very difficult. We all followed the game plan and with a bit of luck everything went as planned. I'm also happy that all of the substitutions worked out and helped win this match. This is a sweet victory. The Maccabi fans have us a feeling that we were playing at home."
