Vladimir Ivic, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach spoke ahead of Saturday’s match against Maccabi Netanya at 18:00:
“I agree that Netanya is one of the bets teams in the league and they proved that all season long. They play an attacking and attractive style of football and it won’t be easy. They have very good coaches and players who deserve respect. We may have beaten them by a high score the past few games but this won’t be an easy one. We’re expecting a difficult game and we have to be focused in order to win.”
Coming into the match after their first loss in league play:
“We’re preparing just like any other week. We we’ll play with the players that we have and we understand that if we aren’t focused and think that it’s finished before it isn’t – it’s not. It’s a big lesson for us and we spoke about it. We have to be focused until the last second.”
About the squad:
“Were at the end of the season and we have some players who have been injured for a long time, Nikolic, Golasa and Micha. The other players have issues here and there.”
Potentially returning Rajkovic to the goal:
“We’ll see. You know that I don’t like to discuss who will play but everyone except for those who are injured can play.”
His first championship:
“This is very special for me and this will be the first time as a first team coach. I believe that these moments belong more to the players. They deserve it and worked hard. After the players there are all of the other staff members who are important as well. We have 95 minutes of a game ahead and we want to win and just focus on the game itself. If we start thinking about what will happen after the game we won’t win.”
