Shota Arveladze, the Yellow & Blue coach discussed the upcoming European match in Croatia versus Hajduk Split for a ticket to the Europa League group stages. The Maccabi boss talked about the absence of winger Tal Ben Chaim, his impressions about Hajduk and last week’s contest:

“It was a good game and we didn’t want to give up a goal, but we are looking forward to tomorrow’s game.”

About Hajduk Split:

“This is a good young team, with some quality individuals. Susic I think was the main man last game and they have 2-3 players who can change the game if we give them the space and time. We know them a bit better now as we’ve played them and we saw them live and we know more. We will be better prepared for the second leg.”

Impressions of the first game:

“We never thought that it would be easy and we never had that impression. We knew about the club and we always knew that it would be very tough with the first leg at home and the second leg away.”

On the absence of Tal Ben Chaim:

“Thank God we have a good team and we can change players. We have players to reap ice any player and we’ve done it before. That’s what we’ll have to do tomorrow.”

The atmosphere at Split football matches:

“I never played here, but as a footballer this is a good place to be. As a coach I’ll have that chance tomorrow to be in a good football atmosphere. I want to thank God that he gave me this opportunity.”

Gal Alberman’s status:

“Alberman is good, he is with us and will train today.”

Haris Medunajnin also commented about his expectations about tomorrow’s clash:

“We are here to win and we want to qualify for the group stage. Because of the previous result we will have to work hard tomorrow night.

“I spoke to Susic as he plays for Bosnia-Herzkovina, I think that his is a great player, we talked about the city but we didn’t talk about the match as we both expect to win.”