Maccabi Tel Aviv arrived in Astana, Kazakhstan this evening after a 5-hour flight as they prepare for Europa League Matchday 3 action Thursday evening at 18:00 Israel Time. Prior to the match, the club will hold their final training session and press conference Wednesday evening. Ofir Davidzada spoke about the important contest ahead:

“Many people aren’t familiar with Astana as we weren’t until we saw videos of them. They have some very good, quality players who play aggressively. We will come into the match ready to go and motivated to win.”

Astana’s home advantage:
“I understand that it’s a synthetic pitch but I don’t think that it will really effect us. We have to focus on our play. Of course the crowd will be behind them, but if we are prepared we will be ok as we need to win the match.”

Importance of a win:
“If we don’t win things will get complicated for us to advance. A win will put us in a very good position with two home matches remaining. This is definitely one of the most important games of this campaign and hopefully we will get the result that we are hoping for.”

Getting over an illness that forced him to miss the Bnei Yehuda match:
“I feel better and I’ll be ready to go for the match.”

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