Maccabi Tel Aviv can make history tonight as they have the opportunity to become the first Israeli club to play in the Champions League and win a title at the end of the campaign. Gal Alberman is certainly looking towards that goal and discussed the league season that was, the State Cup match against Haifa and on winning the Players’ Player award:
“When the playoffs began we drew a bunch if matches. We had gone into the playoffs on a high and we picked up a bunch of points just prior to the final ten matches. We had a year full of excitement by going to the Champions League but we were disappointed on the last Matchday not winning the title.”
Tough competition:
“We took so many points this year but we were up against a team that took even more points than us. That’s what happens after a few years at the top.”
Expectations:
“We go into every year with high expectations. Our goal was to to win the League Championship this year after having played in the Champions League. Last year our goal was to win all the titles that we could move we were eliminated from Europe and we succeeded. We were happy to reach Europe this year but upset that we didn’t take the League.”
Making the switch between the League and State Cup:
“We spent the night happy that we won by a big 6:0 margin but we know that we don’t have any of those goals in the State Cup and it’s a brand new match. It’s a new game and we will have to come to play. Haifa has a lot of quality players and can cause problems for any club. They will come into the game looking to win the Cup.”
The difference playing in the State Cup Final:
“It’s easy to say that we will go into this match like any other but we know that this is a State Cup game and totally different. The minute we wake up in the morning we will know that the is a big game ahead. People like to play in these types of matches and it will be an intense game.”
The last word prior to the Final:
“Every year our goal is to battle for every title that we can and right now this is the only one that we can win. We want to win this title. We will go into this match as defending State Cup Champions and people can’t forget about that.”
