Maccabi Tel Aviv’s young Serbian keeper played in the UEFA Champions League for the first time. Predrag Rajkovic played in all of the club’s European matches, picked up a ton of experience and also turned towards the Israeli league games that begun anew this coming Monday night:
Summarizing the European campaign:
“It was something new for me at a very high level and I gained experience for the next time. I learnt so much as the matches are at a very difficult level of play and we have to keep working hard to be able to compete. In every match I learnt something new but especially in the first game against Chelsea which was the first for everybody. We will be able to do more in the future.”
Turning towards the Israeli league:
“We can now focus on the Israeli league as we have to win this competition. I feel great at Maccabi and my teammates have been very good to me. I’ve gotten to know Tel Aviv and the club and everyone else on the team which makes playing much easier.”
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s central defender, Eitan Tibi, looked back at the Champions League experience as a whole and looked ahead to the domestic Israeli League:
“I agree with what the coach had to say that we gained a tremendous amount of experience going into the future. It’s a bit disappointing to end off a campaign the way we did without winning or drawing a match. But we learnt a lot and Maccabi should look forward to making it into this tournament once again next year.”
Concerning the Kiev match:
“We had a good defensive team game but at the end of the day we gave up a goal on a set piece and that’s also part of the game.”
Playing for the first time in the Champions League:
“I learnt that you have to be organized and aware for the full 90 minutes. Every single play and every single action has to be accounted for on the pitch. You’ll pay the price for every mistake that’s made very quickly. The pace of the game itself is much faster and personally I felt that I improved as did the other players. I’m sure that this will help us as well in the Israeli League”
Maccabi is in first place in the domestic league:
“We know that our bread and butter is the league and making it into the Champions League was our prize for winning the league. We wanted to do better here but we have to now set our sights on the domestic league as we have plenty of tough games and challenges ahead of us.”
