“It is a massive disappointment for us” Zahavi said after the match, “We came here with a massive advantage but we simply didn’t show up. They were just all over the pitch but we were not there as one can’t concede 6 goals in Europe and continue in the competition.”
Zahavi, who scored his 13th goal in europe this season, added: “It was a long journey which began in the summer and ended now, but if we look at the entire campaign we can look at it with pride yet still we are left with a bitter taste. There are no excuses.”
When asked what didn’t work on the night, the 36-year-old veteran striker replied: “We conceded an early goal after 10 minutes which dented our plans, then Milson got injured and matters went from bad to worse. It is a shame really because we needn’t have conceded three goals and I had a feeling that we all wanted the game to end as soon as possible. One simply can’t play like that against a team like Olympiacos. It’s a real shame.”
A 4-1 defeat in regular time that cancelled Maccabi’s win in Athens to take the tie into extra time where he and his teamates conceded two more to crash out of the competition, left Zahavi struggled to find an explanation: “We weren’t mean enough, or focused as matches like that are won by winning duals. Sadly, we can’t look the way we did.”
For a campaign which began back in July and was stretched all the way to March, Zahavi was still full of praise: “We must feel proud with the campaign we did from the summer until now as this was a long journey with plenty of flights and no home matches lately. It was in our hands and we let it slip which is why this is so so painful”
