Dor Peretz paid tribute to the entire team as he praised his teammates for a professional display that helped Maccabi record their 19th league victory this season to open a 7 point lead at the top of the table. “My good performance is a testimony to a great team effort. We showed excellent football right from the start of the match. The penalty held us back a little, but we completed our job.”
When asked to share some of the feelings following the Conference League defeat to Olympiacos, Peretz said: “This is football. We learned on Thursday how unexpected it could be and we were taught a massive lesson. Our role is to bounce back, do our homework and show character so I am happy.”
Trying to reflect a bit more on missing out of what could have been a historic qualification to a final eight of a European competition, Peretz said: “We are the first to suffer, while the fans are with us through thick and thin. We are the first to suffer the blow and we are also the first who would like to correct it. We are happy we bounced back and continue moving forward.”
As Maccabi opened a seven point lead at the end of the regular season and on the eve of the Playoff, Peretz said: “It is great to finish the regular season in top spot but this is only regular season. We still have plenty of work to do in order to reach our targets and if we will continue to look like we did, with passion and aggression, we will achieve our goals.”
