Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv will make history on Tuesday as they will host Dynamo Kyiv in their first home game of the UEFA Champions League Youth Tournament on Matchday Two. The match will take place at Grundman Stadium in Ramat HaSharon at 13:00 and admission is free.
Maxim Grechkin, Maccabi “Shachar”’s left back spoke to the official website about his teammate’s feelings prior to the important match against the Ukrainian side and how important a packed Grundman Stadium would be for the club:
“There’s a lot of excitement as this is the biggest European tournament for youth players and it’s a huge opportunity for us to be part of it. We have a couple of days to prepare for the match and we’re trying to put a great effort into the training sessions in order to do the best that we can. Our last opponent was the European Champions. We did some scouting and we have a file on the Kyiv youth side so we know what each player’s strengths and weaknesses are.”
On the importance of the supporters on Tuesday:
“The fans are 50% of the game. You can be a good team and you can play well but we also need the support to back us up. Just like at Sammy Ofer where there will be over 30,000 fans we would be happy to see 2,000 at our home match. We need that extra push and it’s always fun to have the crowd behind us. We will be 150% ready for this game even though we lost to Sakhnin which was a tough match. There’s a difference between the two competitions and we are going into the game to take three points.”
On his personal goals this season as an older player:
“For me this is a challenge as this is a new group of players. We had an extended training camp and I’m sure with the other two older players we can develop into a strong team that you’ll be able to see on the pitch.”
