Andre Geraldes arrived from Portugal last summer and in the eight months he has been with Maccabi Tel Aviv, he has become one of the anchors of the club’s defensive unit.

Geraldes, at right-back, is part of the most successful defenses that Maccabi have ever had. This season, coach Vladimir Ivic’s side have conceded only seven goals in the 26 league matches played until play was suspended at the end of February.

The Portuguese has shown himself to be a tough and skilled competitor on both sides of the pitch and he has contributed three assists to Maccabi’s tally of 48 goals.

A foreigner in Israel

With the coronavirus crisis having an effect on everybody’s lives, the toughness on the field of play is very different from the challenges faced everywhere else and being a foreign player in Israel makes things even tougher for him and his wife Patricia and daughter, Mariana.

“The situation in Portugal is worse than it is in Israel, there are some 15,000 cases at the moment, although fortunately, our families are okay and that’s the most important thing. But clearly, it’s not easy to be away from them and not be able to be at their side at this time.

We use all the technological means available to keep in touch and get together. Our parents live in the north of Portugal, mine are in Porto and Patricia’s live in Braga. There are many cases in that area, and as over-50s and more in danger, although so far, everything is fine and that’s the most important thing,” Andre told us.

Like for so many other parents, Geraldes, who is on loan to Maccabi from Sporting Lisbon, is mainly looking out for things to do and ways to keep his young daughter active and occupied.

“I watch a lot of TV with my daughter, she likes movies and we try to play with her a lot. We realise that she can’t go outside to play with other kids at this time, so we try to do as much as we can at home, although we do go out to walk with the dog. Our life these days is mostly around our daughter,” he said.

He said that being in Israel has been good.

“We have acclimatised well. It’s not like being in Portugal in respect of the food we are used to. We would like to prepare certain kinds of food but we can’t always find everything we want, but that is perhaps the only thing we really miss. Otherwise, our life here is very normal.”

Andre manages to keep abreast of developments here and he gets regular updates.

“Yoav (Ziv) and Shlomi (Abramov) keep us well informed about what is going on. Last week, during the holiday, we were told that we had to stay indoors. I try to follow the Hebrew web sites to try to glean what is going on by using Google Translate and read everything. It’s important for me to understand better what is happening, although I’m not sure that I have managed to understand all the translations fully,” he said.

So what else does he do at home?

“I like to watch box sets and television. I play FIFA with friends in Portugal. We have a team called Pro Club and I am one player in the team. We started with FIFA 18, we are five or six friends together and I am actually a left-winger. We are in Division 1, which is the highest level in the game. Apparently, that’s the way things go when you are a professional.”

The Maccabi players are all stuck at home, and of course it’s a strange situation.

“Of course, this is something different. We can’t train properly, certainly not with a ball, and the team can’t be together, so we have work on our own at home but we have managed to maintain the team framework while training online with the help of Zoom. I have just finished a session with some friends and I try to do the best I can with the equipment available.”

Geraldes said he did not think that the extended enforced rest period was beneficial.

“I don’t really see the rest as necessarily good. We have ten more games until the end of the season and we need to try to be as prepared as possible for the moment when we get back to action,” he said.

He thought life as a whole could change significantly after the crisis ends.

“It’s quite possible that not only football, but life in general, will be different. It’s a worldwide crisis and although it’s hard to know, it’s possible that in a month things will be a lot better and that we will be able to get back to playing with or without spectators. When you see what is happening in Italy and in Spain, and the many cases there, it’s hard to know when they will be able to get back to playing. The situation there is volatile and it changes every day. Certainly, it will not be easy for FIFA, or whoever, to make the call to resume play.”

Spanish “Mafia”

Geraldes has been at Maccabi for several months and says he is very comfortable at the club.

“I arrived in July and I think until now the feeling has been very good. It was a bit difficult at first. When you are not in your own country and you come to a new place. I think that for me, at the start the most difficult thing here was the climate . We would train at 6 p.m. and it would still be really hot. You do one sprint and you think you are going to die. I didn’t have proper pre-season preparation at Sporting Lisbon but after a month or so, I was in the groove and it helped that the team was having success. Certainly, on a personal level, I feel good.”

So how does he compare his thoughts now about Israeli football to his previous perceptions?

“I think that the level is good. I didn’t’ know much about the game here before I arrived but I have been impressed. There are many good players here and there are four or five good clubs. Elsewhere, there are also some good players with lots of talent. It’s not easy to play against them. Certainly this is the case when you play at Maccabi and all your opponents try harder not to concede goals and not to lose. We have done our best so far, and it has been going well.”

Apart from Geraldes, Maccabi’s defence is made up of Spaniards Enric Saborit and Jair Amador, and Daniel Tenenbaum, who has come from Brazil. They all understand each other well as they all speak Spanish, and the results have been clear to see.

“Of course, it helps, and that’s the situation also off the field of play, particularly when I first arrived and needed to get to understand things. I speak English, but it’s good to be able to speak Spanish or Portuguese. We speak Spanish a lot with each other at the club and it’s an advantage. Even Eitan Tibi has learned and understands a few words. We are four Spanish speakers alongside one who isn’t, so has to learn to understand us.”

Geraldes is close to Saborit and they live three minutes’ walk from each other. Their spouses also, are good friends.

“We have spent a lot of time together and as we both speak the same language, it’s much easier. Our partners are also close,” he said.

Geraldes said the conditioning of the clubs and what form they will be in will only become apparent when play resumes.

“It’s hard to know. All the clubs are in the same situation and what we need to do is to work in order to stay in shape so that we will be ready to return to action. Of course, it’s not the same as the usual situation but all the clubs are in the same place and we will have to work from there and battle on, just as we did in our last game.”

After spending several seasons at clubs who were not playing at the top of the league, Geraldes is in a position to win the title with Maccabi and he sees it as a welcome change of mindset.

“It’s a new feeling for me and it’s the best feeling possible when you play and expect to win every game. It’s a different feeling and there is more positive pressure. It’s a welcome change from playing at ‘ordinary’ clubs compared to a side that is trying to win the championship. It’s always better this way.”

Geraldes has not forgotten the Maccabi fans and says they make a big difference.

“You can feel them. When I walk in the street I feel the love from the people. That is one of the best things in this job: When you know that people appreciate what you do. It gives you more motivation to do your best.”