Maccabi Tel Aviv will begin the third round of Europa League qualifying when they visit Pandurii at 21:00, live on Channel 20. Shota Arveladze, the Head Coach discussed the upcoming contest against the side that won 2:1 in their domestic league opener this last weekend in Romania:
“At this stage there are always a lot of question marks. We are still on the preseason, but we’ve played four official games. Pandurii are at the same stage and have played one official match. We have a hard game and it’s tough to have a first leg away. We will try to get a good result in order to have an advantage for the home leg.”
Is it an advantage to have the second leg at home:
“I don’t look at it like this but it’s still the early stages of the season for us and our opponent. We have to keep doing well and we’ve done so this far. We haven’t played a league game or a Cup game yet. I’m looking forward to seeing my team play. My team will do the best they can. Pandurii will be tough.”
The fact that this is not really Pandurii’s home stadium:
“For us it will be the first time in this stadium and it’s still an away game. I can’t really say much, but I hope it’s a good field and the rain always makes it good for football.”
Gaining information about Pandurii:
“I watched last year’s matches and the last game against Craiova so we know what to expect.”
Who will Maccabi be focussing on:
“Ioan Hora is someone who we have to pay attention to. He can be dangerous.”
Are you looking ahead to the home match:
“Let’s play the first game and it’s tomorrow already, for next week’s game we can speak about it next week.”
Matches coming up:
“We will have three games coming up in a week and it will be good for my players so they can all get minutes and gain fitness as we start our regular season at the end of August.”
Pressure:
“Last year Maccabi played in the Champions League and we know how to deal with pressure. We try to do our best.”
Haris Medunjanin also spoke to the assembled press:
Knowledge about Romanian football:
“I know Mutu and in 1994 Romania had a very good team plus a Bosnian player who played in Romania.”
About Pandurii:
“We are playing a very good team and we have to be 100% prepared for the upcoming match.”
