Maccabi Tel Aviv will open up their UEFA Champions League campaign this evening at 21:45 Israel time against English Premier League Champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Matchday One. This will be the first time in 11 years that the Yellow-and-Blue will be playing in the prestigious continental tournament with the best 32 clubs in Europe.

Tal Ben Chaim who has played a central role for the club through qualifying, spoke with the Official Website prior to the match about playing in the competition and what Maccabi is expecting as they face Chelsea:

 “It’s a lot of fun. When you are just a little child, 6 or 7 years old, it was just a dream to play at these levels. It’s an experience that we will take with us for the rest of our careers and our lives. This is something extraordinary that is outside the usual training sessions and practices and the things we do on a day to day basis. It’s something difficult that we haven’t yet experienced and that we are not used to doing on a yearly basis but hopefully that will now change. We’ve talked so much about playing in the Champions League since we advanced over Basel and it’s finally here. I can’t wait until the opening whistle.”

Chelsea haven’t been in form recently:

“Even if Chelsea plays with their fourth best players they are an incredible team and even though they’ve been struggling it’s not something that we are thinking about. We are no where near Chelsea’s level but even if you look at Basel whom we advanced over, they are a better club than us but we were able to make it through to the group states against them. On one hand we are giving Chelsea the greatest amount of respect but once the match starts we put that to the side. Of course we want to win and play the best that we can.”