One of Maccabi’s most experienced players, Avi Rikan, spoke candidly at the end of the 3-0 victory over Hapoel Be’ersheva at Bloomfield. Rikan, who didn’t feature too much recently spoke about the season he experienced as he admitted: “There is nothing easy in football, and whoever tells you that has no idea what he is talking about” Rikan said: “This is the situation and one has to learn how to deal with it. This club is bigger and stronger than anyone. Coaching staff and players come and go, while whoever is here must do his best for this club to succeed. This is exactly what I did today and this is what I will do on Saturday as well.”
The 34-year-old midfielder who joined Maccabi in the summer of 2015/16 winning 8 trophies in more than 300 appearances, said: “One has to have here a serious attitude all the time – to try win the duals and the smallest of details which are the things that would always guide Maccabi to be successful. I told my teammates that and that is something which has been brewing with me for a while. I kept on repeating that even in the six matches I did not participate – that we can’t normalise such things. We are a Club that must always win. Everyone must look back and say that this season wasn’t good enough and ensure that everything is done that it doesn’t happen again.”
Rikan, whose contract runs out at the end of the season, spoke about his future when he concluded: “This situation repeats itself every season. It is not pleasant but it is fine. The club will take its’ decisions and I will take mine. If it will suit me, fine, and if it will not, it is also fine. This club is bigger and stronger than everything.”
