Barak Itzhaki handed Maccabi Tel Aviv 3 very valuable points in the title race. The striker found the back of the goal in the 57th minute for the winner at the Moshava Stadium. “We made it over a tough hurdle, this was a very difficult team, strong and physical. We came prepared for this match and we knew that we had to control the midfield and that’s what we did. I believe we deserved to win.”
The title fight with Beer Sheva:
“We really have to just focus just on ourselves. When we looked at how they were doing, the point situation was not in our favor. We have two more meetings with them in the Championship Playoffs and we have a very long way to go in the league. Right now our sole focus is on Saturday night’s match against Kiryat Shemona.”
New coach:
“We are getting instructions already and I’m sure that Jordi will continue to be very involved. We all see how important he is to the system that has been built here and I’m sure he brought us a good coach. There’s no question that the results we had under him were good but he’ll stay with us. In my opinion it’s not that important as to who is on the sidelines as we have to continue the good run we had under Jordi and concentrate on our play on the pitch.”
Scoring the winner in front of Mitch Goldhar:
“He watches all of the games and follows everything. There’s no question that when he is here it helps us a lot, but we always feel his support. What he is doing here at Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israeli football and sports as a whole is really a blessing.”
