Vladimir Ivic, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach spoke about his side’s disappointing 2:1 win over Sarpsborg which wasn’t enough to see the Yellow & Blue through to the Group Stages of the Europa League:
“It’s a big shock. We didn’t lose the game but we aren’t in the Europa League which was our target. I can’t say anything about the players as they played hard, created chances and scored two goals. This is football as we missed a lot of chances. We received a penalty and then we had a few chances to score. We have our next game in a few days and we have to now focus on the Israel Premier League, State Cup and Toto Cup. We have to work with the players and fix the mental side now.”
Giving up penalties in both legs:
“This is the one moment you need to make a decision and you make a wrong decision. We paid for our mistakes in the first game.”
Focusing on the other competitions:
“It’s was our target to qualify for the Europa League Group Stages. We worked very hard for that and we didn’t achieve this goal. Now we have to focus on the other competitions.”
About the squad:
“I can’t think about this now right after the game.”
