Vladimir Ivic, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Head Coach spoke about the first leg 3:1 defeat at Sarpsborg in Norway while also looking ahead to next week’s return contest in Israel at the Netanya Stadium:

“It’s not the best result as we lost the first game, the first half but the second game is a week away and we know what we have to do. All of us hope and will give our best to make sure it’s a different story and to advance past this round to the Europa League Group Stages.”

Falling behind early:
“It was very difficult and after a few minutes it was already 2:0. We lost confidence and concentration and we must work to fix this as it’s the first time we didn’t begin the game well. The goals all came on set pieces.”

Missing chances:
“We scored a goal and then we created some chances for a second one before the break but we missed two or three very good chances and the game ended 3:1.

More about the match that was:
“It was a difficult game, pitch and conditions for us as it’s been a lot of time since our players were on a synthetic pitch. We are professional and must adapt as soon as possible to play this type of game depending on the pitch conditions.”

Looking ahead:
“This was just the first half and we all know what we need to do for the next seven days.”