Shota Arveladze discussed his side’s crucial penalty win against Hajduk Split at the Stadion Poljud as he spoke about the importance of advancing to the group stages for the fans, the player selection and of course the atmosphere:
“The atmosphere was something spectacular and that’s what is great about football. I have to give credit to the Hajduk supporters. But a Club like Hajduk definitely needs a proper pitch, it was terrible and you can’t play properly on it. The supporters and the team deserve better.”
About the match:
“In general we never lost control of the game, perhaps we could have done more defensively and it was hard offensively, but everyone struggled.”
Hajduk’s set pieces:
“The games I saw from Hajduk showed that they didn’t have many set pieces, but they delivered the ball well and we could have defended better but we had more goals at the end of the day.”
Advancing to the group stages:
“It was the first target we had, but 8 games were too hard and long. Years ago it was easier. We are happy to reach the Europa League and Maccabi deserved it as well.”
Player selection due to the poor pitch:
“We were all disappointed as the pitch didn’t look that bad on TV when we watched some of their games, but we had to be aware that every second the ball could bounce all over. However, we didn’t change the Starting XI because of the poor pitch. I have to give the boys credit for a hard game and really tough work throughout the full match.”
The importance of making it to the Europa League for the fans:
“Last year we had the Champions League and the players love football as do the fans. It can create a great atmosphere for Tel Aviv and it gives us another 3 games at home and 6 games in total. I am waiting for this great atmosphere as we’ve moved to the new stadium and I’m looking forward to that very much, for the team and the fans.”
