The Yellow-and-Blue captain, Eran Zahavi, who thrilled us all with an incredible brace in a 2:2 draw against Basel didn't hide his satisfaction about the result from the first leg of the Champions League Playoff Round
Number 7 did it again. Maccabi captain Eran Zahavi who scored a brace in the 2:2 draw with FC Basel in the dying minutes of the match was able to bring the deciding match to Bloomfield Stadium but didn't get too excited just yet.
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"I'm happy that we got a good result here in Basel against an excellent club that we saw play terrific football against us," Zahavi said after the match. "One mistake and you pay for it with a goal. But we really tried our best and played a very good game together and I'm happy with the result. However, we aren't going to go too crazy just yet because nothing has been decided. We have only played half of the game and there is another 90 minutes to play at Bloomfield. To get to the Champions League we all have to go through very hard trials and tribulations and I'm hoping that we can do it."
About the 96th minute header goal:
"It's not my typical type of goal but I believed that I could do it and I ran towards the ball. We just have to get to next week and I wish the match was tomorrow already. But we will wait until Tuesday and I hope we can advance."
"The first goal is a set play that we have worked on in practice and I'm happy that it worked on the pitch during the match. We knew that this match would be very hard here in Basel but I think we got the best out of the game. We changed our style when we had to during the tough moments of the match and we became stronger. When we do this together good things happen."
On the result and the second leg next week:
"I'm like everyone else tonight as I appreciate what we did here in Basel. But only those that played against them really know how good a team they are. I'm very happy with the result but like I said nothing is finished just yet. We are expecting an even tougher match at Bloomfield."
Zahavi also talked about his performance on a personal level:
"I think that there is luck involved. I work very hard at practice, every minute of every single day. The harder I work the more luck comes into play, so I keep working harder and harder. I have to keep raising the bar. I am not afraid of expectations because this is what every footballer has to do, live up to the expectations."
"I expected to be a dominant player again with Maccabi Tel Aviv and get back to myself after a not so good time with the National Team. I think that my smile is back and that I'm having a good time playing the game. I come to the stadium, my family is there and they are proud of me which makes me even happier."
The captain also had a final message to all of the Maccabi fans around the world, Europe and Israel:
"I try to make everyone happy and make them proud of how we play. I want to thank everyone for their support and make them as happy as we can. I hope people can come and see us play at home in Israel and in Europe. We try to make the Jews in Europe and all of the people in Israel and around the world proud and we will keep working hard for them."
