One of the most satisfied players at the end of the match that saw the Yellow & Blue advance to the UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE Group Stages was none other than the decisive goal scorer Avi Rikan who helped Maccabi reach the groups stages of the competition for the third time in their history.
“It was tough,” Rikan explained. “Anyone that was in this stadium with the amazing atmosphere would understand how wonderful it was to play football in this environment. We didn’t want to get to penalties but I’m happy we were able to make it to the group stages,” number 22 said.
Coming off of the each in extra-time:
“The truth is that I live the match from the bench. If you know me a bit even when I don’t play I’m totally into the action and I want to club to win. I got into the thick of things very quickly. I’m happy that I was able to help out and score the decisive penalty. I came into the match late and I couldn’t really have an effect on the outcome during the extra-time period. I’m happy that I scored the penalty. We had four very tough games on the way to this point and tonight was the pinnacle. We’ll celebrate a bit now and then get ready for Ashdod on Monday.”
The moment that he scored the penalty:
“As soon as I saw that the Hajduk player missed I knew that I would score. I put the ball on the spot and I stepped up to take the kick with all of my heart. Some of the players had played 90 minutes a few days ago, it wasn’t easy but we will enjoy it now.”
