The Yellow & Blue moved on to the third round of Europa League qualifying after disposing Kairat Almaty with a 2:1 home victory. Gal Alberman, Maccabi’s captain discussed the match, his goal, moving on to the next round and more:
“It definitely was a match winning goal, but we have to see what will be coming up. We really wanted to advance to the next stage and we came up against a very difficult opponent. We’re still in the very early stages of the campaign and I’m happy that we made it up. It’s very important that we will be moving on to the next round and it’s also important that we make it to the group stages of the Europa League. It’s crucial for the Club and it gives the players a different experience. I hope that we’ll make it happen.”
About Kairat:
“It’s hard to really see what happened in the match but there were points where we were in control and they were as well. This was a team with a tremendous amount of ability and very dangerous on the offensive side. But we had more chances then they did and we were the more dangerous side throughout the match. But at the end of the day we will have to figure out what we did well and where we can improve because that’s our goal.”
Taking shots:
“Many times when we are on offense, I’m the player that has to cut down our rival’s attack and I end up going into the key area. It was my only shot on goal for the whole match and when I have these types of opportunities they have to be converted on a very high percentage rate because I’m a player that rarely goes to the key area and actually shoots. But I want to try and help my side as much as I can. I didn’t have much luck in the past few campaigns, but I hope that I’ll score a bit more this year.”
The strength of the club:
“Maccabi is a strong club and it doesn’t matter how many coaches, players or CEOs will be changed, the spirit of Maccabi is here and it’s very strong. We’re a strong club that doesn’t give up because we know how to score goals at the most critical moments of the match just like today. I hope that this will continue.”
The Club:
“There has been a lot of players at Maccabi and the base of the players over the last few years has left. You can see that we’ve scored a goal in the critical moments of the match both this week and last. I really hope that the players can get to achieve new heights that keeps pushing the club ahead. We want to be at the highest level.”
