Avi Rikan, the Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder summed up the 1:1 Derby draw on Matchday 18 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika:

“I can’t really explain what happened at that moment as there are a lot of emotions and it’s too bad it resulted in something a bit more, but it wasn’t anything extra special.”

Character of a Derby:
“I received a yellow card and both teams were involved in the pushing and shoving but that is the character of Derby matches. I don’t feel that it’s anything more than just sportsmanship and nothing more than that.”

Continuing to learn:
“It’s clear that we can’t always play every single match with the same quality and there are going to be some matches like we had today. We are very strong and we come into every game looking to win, so on days where we aren’t at our best we have to know how to tactically and professionally take the points. Unfortunately, we gave up a goal near the end of the match and we have to learn from this as we want to play our best throughout the season.”

Looking ahead:
“We always give everything we have and we did so in both league Derbies as we want to always play our best. Our fans came out and gave us their incredible support. Everything is ok and its too bad that we drew both Derbies but we have a long season with many matches left and many goals in front of us. We have to look ahead to the next match which is already on Thursday.”