Just three days before the Champions League match against Chelsea, Maccabi defeated Hapoel Haifa at Sammy Ofer Stadium 3:0 on goals by Zahavi, Igiebor and Rikan, The captain celebrated his 100th league goal and spoke about the accomplishment, his will to continue to improve and also about the Chelsea match:
On his 100th league goal:
“It’s certainly nice, but now I want to score more goals. I’m happy we won and now we have to prepare for Tuesday’s Champions League match.”
About the match:
“We were in control for the majority of the game, but we weren’t aggressive enough in the last 1/3 of the pitch during the first half. It’s also hard to play against a team that has all of their players back on defense. We knew it wouldn’t be an easy game but we took the points and that’s important.”
Chances of taking points on Tuesday:
“It’s definitely possible to take points from Chelsea. It’s time to go for it all as we have nothing to lose in the Champions League. We will do the best we can and hope for the best.”
Avi Rikan scored his first goal wearing the Yellow-and-Blue and also spoke after the match:
“It wasn’t a big game for us but we finished it off scoring three goals, especially after the penalty and red card to Haifa. You’ve seen that in the last few matches we played, teams are playing us tight and trying to score on counter attacks. We’re trying to get more offensive opportunities without being vulnerable in the back.”
On picking up three points:
“I’m happy that we scored three goals and picked up three points. Sometimes it looks like we’re playing in first gear but we dominated and took the three points. We did our jobs.”
